Moonlight and Magic
by Stone Rhino
Summary: Long ago Clea saved the life of Steven Strange and since then the Dr has been haunted by the memory of a girl who saved him but he couldn't save in return. Now as his Rival Baron Karl Mordo attempts to bring Clea's uncle the dreaded Dormammu to earth Steven Strange is finally given the chance to save the girl who haunted his dreams.
1. Moonlight and Magic Prologue

For thousands of years, the dark dimension remained unchanging. Castles villages dotted the landscape under a deep Sangria sky. The endless expanse of land had long been conquered by the dreaded Dormammu, one of two exiled Faltines who had corrupted the Mhuruuk king Olnar and taken advantage of his greed to weaken the realm. When the exiled Faltine first arrived in the Dark Dimension it was much smaller than its current state. Despite this the Mhuruuks, magic humanoid beings from this other dimension were happy. Magic naturally flowed through both Mhuruuk and their lands tying them to the dimension in ways their neighboring dimensions could hardly understand.

Before the time of Dormammu they had received various visitors from a neighboring dimension from the third planet floating in a strange space. The visitors spoke of a world taking on the shape of a sphere, something that almost drove them made when they realized the dimension they traveled to was not governed by the rules of their native lands. In order to save the sanity of the visitors, the Mhuruuk taught the humans their secret arts, magic.

Their first student was so confused by the trip he no longer remembered his own name, but he adapted quickly to the use of magic. It was as if some greater power had coded something into the people of that planet to be something greater if they survived the change. Within years he had master the magic that usually took Mhuruuks decades. There came a time when he needed to return to his own world and so the All-Seeing Agamotto returned home as his world's first Sorcerer Supreme.

Perhaps it was meeting humanoids from another realm that made King Olnar susceptible to Dormammu's influence. When the beings of pure energy first arrived in the dark dimension they were seen in much the same fashion as the humanoid Agamotto. It was the Mhuruuk who helped the two achieve physical form bending dark energies into something more solid. Prince Orini was immediately taken by Umar as she gained her physical form moments after her twin brother Dormammu. He was thus distracted while Dormammu began whispering of expansion into the ear of the King. What if the Dark dimension could be much larger than its current state?

Thus began the long wars that became known as the expansion. With Dormammu and his sister leading armies of mages, the Mhuruuk conquered pocket dimension after pocket dimension adding land from each and growing the dark dimension with each expansion. On the night before the planned invasion of Earth, something unique happened and a damaged being of metal fell through the portal damaging it and closing it off for years. The being claimed to be a Celestial, a fallen one who had been banished from its true dimension.

The Mhuruuk found the creature injured and almost completely drained of energy, unable to fight back even as the mages bound the creature in the bands of Cyttorak. The mages bound the Fallen to their world even as they bound themselves to the creature. Its body became the land on which the Mhuruuk built their cities. Magic energies transmuting the top layer of metal into the soil from which a variety of plants would grow. Olnar built his capital far above where the heart of the beast would have been, far below the palace an orb of mystical energy pulsed spreading life throughout the new world.

The Prince had argued the expansion had been enough, that it was time to relent and build on what they had achieved. It was in this time that Dormammu knew his long plan had finally snapped into place. He tricked the King into one final invasion, meant to be an easy one to seal the glory of the dark dimension forever. Instead, it brought ruin.

As the King opened the portal to the final dimension they had planned to invade a strange almost featureless humanoid creature stepped through the portal. The creature with skin like Obsidian marched forward despite the hails of greetings which quickly turned into warnings. A line of energy where the creature's eyes should have been pulsed with energy as it grabbed hold of the King. No words were spoken as the creature crushed King Olnar within it's rocklike hands.

As the life and magic energy of the king dispersed, Dormammu rushed forward to claim it absorbing the lingering energies even as the mindless monster turned it's attention to him. Other creatures followed the first as mages desperately began trying to fight back the tide of mindless creatures. The Mindless ones made no noise as they marched through the armies of the dark dimension destroying everything in their path until Umar managed to trick the creatures placing a lasso of energy around their midsection. With the deaths in the thousands, the two Faltine dragged the Mindless creatures back to their portal but found it impossible to seal again.

Umar expended a great amount of energy to form a wall of mystical energy around the creatures that they could not pass through. This cost a great amount of energy allowing her brother Dormammu to gain absolute control of the Dark Dimension. The years passed and the Mhuruuk people began to recover from what had become known as Olnar's folly. Cities were built that stretched across the lands stretching as far as the eye could see. This great expansion suddenly stopped without warning the night that Dormammu once more took on his Faltine form, a being of pure energy ruling from his castle in the center of the newly acquired empire. Even Umar knew that this would not be enough for her brother for long as he turned his attention to Earth and attempting to repair the portal that once connected the dimensions.

It was in this time that Umar and Olnar began seeing each other while the dreaded Dormammu was distracted by his new project. This culminated in disaster as a disgusted Umar threw Olnar from her bedchamber. She found herself disguised both with the act and with Ulnar and finally decided to return to her true form as a Faltine only to find she could no longer return to her energy form. She came very close to killing Olnar until she became aware of another being inside of her. It was an alien feeling to the magical being and it only cemented her eternal hatred of Olnar and the child she was carrying. While trapped in her humanoid form Umar gave birth to a half Faltine half Mhuruuk child whom she quickly passed over to Olnar.

Umar found the experience had changed her completely and she was no longer able to turn back into a Faltine again. Umar in great despair began working for her brother again and finally found a way to break down the barrier between the dark dimension and Earth. Through the portal floated a much stronger Agamotto who had taken on the name The Ancient One. Despite Dormammu's great power, he was defeated by the human mage who then once more sealed the portal between the two realms. This would not be the first time that Dormammu attempted to invade the realm but over the years the dreaded Dormammu found himself unable to accomplish this one task. Instead of invading himself, Dormammu found willing vessels in the mortal world of Earth to be his instrument. Each failed in their task of creating a large enough breach for the armies of the Dormammu. There was a great despair until Dormammu found potential in the creature known as Heinrich Krowler who sought revenge on his enemies after a great war had spread across the earth.

It was Dormammu's energies that lead Krowler to Nikolai Mordo. When Krowler attempted to absorb the power of Mordo to increase his own he found out that he could only do so with someone of his own bloodline. Krowler's own daughter was sent to seduce Nikolai leading to the birth of Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo. After temping Sara Krowler into killing her own husband Dormammu manipulated the woman into sending her child back to her father to be trained in the arts as he grew into a vengeful spiteful man. Mordu would then go on to Tibet to train under the current Ancient One as a seed planted to grow into a terrible fruit. Dormammu waited biding his time for the day when the Ancient One would pass on the eye of Agamotto to his minion thus opening the doors for one final invasion from the Dark Dimension.

This is the world from which Clea was raised, spending her days avoiding her uncle and his devoted servant, her father. What little joy she gained came from observing Earth and watching how the humans were adapting to their world. Every now and then she was able to send some type of help to the human who had found himself in the Dark Dimension, Agamotto. As the years passed she continued this contact with the Ancient Ones and Sorcerer Supremes that followed, only Agamotto had been fully aware of the identity of the one who helped them. It was through her crystal ball that she became aware of a human from a strange place called Nebraska who possessed an untapped magic ability that rivaled even Agamottos. The child was named Steven Strange.

It was Clea who noticed the demons that had been sent after the child and it was Clea who helped defend him and his sister. Her last contact with the child was on the death of his sister, Donna Strange, an event Clea blamed herself for not being able to stop and one that had sent her into despair for years. She always wondered what happened to Steven Strange.

Hidden In the mountains of Tibet on the planet Earth, another group of mages pondered their fate. It had been some time since the dreaded Dormammu had attempted to invade Earth and so the descendants of Agamotto prepared for what would come. Ever since the disaster with Kaluu, the Ancient one knew he would need to find a replacement. The battle with his longtime friend had damaged him in ways he even now was unwilling to admit. Over five hundred years ago the two were born on the same day in the village of Kamar-Taj.

It was Kaluu who introduced Yao, as he was known at the time to the mystic arts. Neither knew just how far that simple introduction would take them. For many years the two friends trained in the mystic arts until Kaluu met with Varnae a survivor of the Atlantis Vampires. It was this gross deformed vampire that would introduce Kaluu to Darkhold, an ancient Tome over a billion years old. Written in the blood of the Elder God, Chthon, when he was forced to flee from earth or be consumed by the Demogorge. Before retreating from the earth he left behind a tome of all his spells and deeds written in his own blood on sheets of his own followers skin. Over the years the Tome evolved and adapted changing from skin, to stone and finally paper so strong that no steel could damage.

Over the years the Darkhold had gathered other names, the book of the damned and the book of sins. It was the Darkhold that helped warped the deviants from the creatures they already were into monsters long after the Celestials had changed them. It was the Darkhold that helped set Atlantis on the path of destruction when the same Celestials crushed it under their fists. It was the Darkhold that took Morgan Le Fay and twisted her turning her against her stepbrother Arthur. It was the Darkhold that helped jumpstart magic on earth again when it sent a lost human to the dark dimension. This lost human returned as Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Agamotto. In the hands of Kaluu, the Darkhold took a different path, twisting and warping his mind with a desire to control, to rule that matched Dormammu's own twisted dreams.

Kaluu and Yao the newly appointed Sorcerer Supreme fought for years over Kamar-Taj as Yao's old friend attempted to dominate the mages of the hidden village. This Civil war between the mages of Kamar-Taj extracted a heavy toll as the mages of this hidden city lost the gift of the Mhuruuk, Immortality. Kaluu himself would flee to another dimension along with his closest followers leaving the mages of Kamar-Taj to heal. While their immortality had been stripped from them the people of Kamar-Taj still retained incredibly long lives and thus Yao became the new Ancient one.

For five hundred years Yao protected the world from threats both internal and from other dimensions. During that time the dreaded Dormammu made many attempts at invading the Earth and each one was met with failure at the hands of the Ancient One. Over the years, however, Yao began to notice his magic was weakening and no longer strong enough to retain the title Sorcerer Supreme and so he put aside his combat role to take on the role of a teacher for he needed to find someone to replace him.

It was then that a young student from Eastern Europe arrived, Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo, sent by his grandfather Viscount Heinrich Krowler. The outsider quickly adapted to the magic of Kamar-Taj with frightening skill and speed. While the mage was strong enough to become the Sorcerer Supreme something about the young man had disturbed Yao, and so the Ancient One waited.

It was when Yao had almost given into despair at finding someone to replace him that a stranger appeared on the road to Kamar-Ja. It was a lost man who sought healing after losing much of the use of his hands in a horrible accident. While the man could only see his crippled hands, Yao saw potential in him. This man thought that magic could heal what science could not and so he devoted himself to the study of magic with as much fervor as when he studied medicine.

When Baron Mordo had exhausted all of his patience with Yao, it was this man who saved the Ancient One. Despite being a rookie Dr. Steven Strange managed to protect the Ancient One from Mordo's assassination attempt. It was then that Yao knew he had found someone to become the new Sorcerer Supreme, and perhaps he had found someone to defeat Dormammu himself. It was only after the battle that Yao took the time to recall that the Cloak of Levitation had chosen Dr. Strange. While searching through his private collection Yao found a painting of the first owner of the Cloak of Levitation. She was beautiful and at once he could see the features of the Mhuruuk around her eyes and in the aura that even her painting possessed. Long blonde hair so light as to remind him of snow-draped around the dark red of her ruby red cloak. It had chosen no other since it was left by it's mistress. Many magic users had tried to win it's favor, but all of them failed. In that time it had only allowed Dr. Strange to wear it.

When Yao showed the painting to Steven Strange, the young man was puzzled. His photographic memory had retained every single detail of the woman in the painting. He remembered her saving him, pulling him from the water that he nearly drowned in. It was the same lake that had taken the life of his sister. He remembered a hand of flame pulling her away from him as he lay on the shore and his helplessness as he could neither help the woman or his sister that day. As Dr. Strange studied the picture he wondered what happened to the woman and if he would ever see her again.

Sir Clive Bentley was desperate. Something was hunting him and he had very little time to get a warning out. He had been trapped in the family manor for a week now and that long siege had taken its toll on his servants both mystical and physical. They were all exhausted as creature after creature attacked the manor but thankfully with very few casualties. He knew he had one single chance and that lay with the Ancient One and the new student that Yao had been training. After spending a moment to create a magic letter to send to his daughter Victoria Bentley, Clive then composed one to Yao desperately asking for his assistance in defending his family's home.

Clive was so focused on his writing that he never noticed the mage sneaking up on him. He felt a stab of pain in his back and knew he only had a moment to release the spell on his letters to send them on their way. As he lay dying he watched as Baron Karl Mordo stepped into his view grabbing the letter to his daughter before it could fly away, the mage made no attempt to stop the one to the Ancient One. With the last few breaths left to him, Clive dipped a finger into his own blood and reached under his desk writing out a single name that he hoped would help provide the undoing to his murderer. His last thoughts were of his wife and daughter as his breath slowed and finally stopped.


	2. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 1

Stephen Strange could feel the biting Nebraska wind on his cheek and once more he was home again. It had been so long since he had been home but the simple design of his family's old home was a welcome change from the brighter designs of his room in Kamar-Taj. His breath caught when he remembered the last time he had seen this place. He had been nineteen years old and home from college already making a path to complete his bachelors of Surgery early. His entire focus had been on getting through his classes as efficiently as possible, so much so that his time in college had become something of a blur to him. His home was the same as when he last saw it that Christmas vacation. It took a few moments for Stephen to realize he was dreaming, the wind across his skin, the sound of snow crunching under his feet had been so real, so intense. He centered his magic energies just as the Ancient One had taught him and he found himself floating for a few seconds watching as his younger self, walked towards the family home. He had always been tall with an aristocratic build or so he had been told. Madeleine, his ex-wife had always stated he looked like he had walked right out of a Regency novel, a noble of old.

Stephen's cloak of levitation floated around him now in his dream where it sought to protect him from the winter winds he knew he should not be feeling but the bite still remained. It had been a colder year than usual, even for Nebraska, off in the distance Sapphire lake was covered in ice just as the Platte River would be. He watched as his younger self, brought gifts into the house barely avoiding being tackled by his younger sister. This would have been her senior year. Like Stephen, she had gained her height from her father, something the two knew that their younger brother Victor was slightly jealous of. She had a smile that reminded him of Julie London and he had often wondered if that was why she was planning on studying music. She had always been talented.

He watched as she begged him to take her into town. He knew at the time he was tired, but he gave in to his sister as she knew he would. When he had turned eleven his sister breaking her leg had been the catalyst for his interest in medicine. He had been so focused on his sister and his younger self he nearly missed the woman who watched them. She stood out so much he wondered why he hadn't seen her back then. Her clothing was of an older design, a violet dress with ancient symbols across her sleeves. He recognized them instantly but not their meaning. It was the mystical language of the Mhurruk, beings from the Dark Dimension.

The woman, however, did not look like a Mhuruuk who generally were hairless save for the mystical aura that surrounded them and formed over time something that looked like hair or beards only made of pure energy. Her long white hair was braided in a style that convinced him she had been to earth often. His sister loved the style with two thick braids running down both sides of her head and down her back reaching easily to her waist. Within the braids he noticed flowers he had never seen before, each glowing with faint lavender light. It took him a moment to realize he had seen her before, she had an ageless look he had seen in paintings of elves and for a moment he thought she was one. Had he not known better he would have thought her a construct of his dreams, seeing the woman who had saved him.

The cloak of levitation tugged at him pulling him along In the dream as his past self and his sister drove off into town across the Platte River. He effortlessly took to the skies levitating after the old pickup truck as it pulled onto 44 turning north towards Kearney. His sister had a role in a Christmas musical and she wanted her hair to be perfect.

He could hear her singing as clear as if he had been driving the truck himself. She was practicing for the musical, an adaptation of White Christmas. She was currently singing Betty's part from Love and the Weather singing along with a tape she had been given by her music teacher. It had been so long since he had heard her sing he could feel all the old pain of losing her again. He felt the cloak twisting around to brush off the tears that were falling from his eyes as he continued to fly behind the truck, remembering.

He saw the white-haired woman again just as his sister began singing the song 'Sisters' and they had just entered the town. She was standing on the corner of the street watching as the truck drove by and Stephen began to wonder if she was really part of his memories. Had he seen her and just forgot? No, he was usually very observant, there seemed to be no way that he could have seen a woman like her and not remembered, yet as much as he searched his Eidetic Memory, she was missing. It was as if she had teleported from the family farm to the town unless she had an identical twin.

As his past self, pulled up to the hairdresser to let his sister out he decided to follow Donna. The Ancient One had told him dreams like this were important, they were his subconscious warning him of something important. He did not yet know what to look for yet, but following his sister no matter how much it hurt seemed to be the right thing to do. This is where the dream would deviate from his memories and enter another realm. As his past self, walked down the street towards a bookstore he frequented there was a brief static sound in the air and then the sound not so different than the cork of a wine bottle popping.

Inside the hairdresser, he saw the woman again. Her hair was somewhat lighter than he saw a few moments ago and while it was still braided it lacked the glowing flowers that made her stand out so much. She seemed to be part of what had happened as Stephen's astral form entered the building behind his sister. He knew she was immediately entranced by her dress. This was the one she had described to him when he met up with her and he could easily see how she had been so captivated by it. The bright reds of the dress blended perfectly with the white fur trim and he knew instantly she was wearing an exact copy of the dress the character Judy wore from the White Christmas musical.

His sister greeted the woman as if she were a long time friend and he wondered how she was always able to do that. After a few moments, he became aware of the fact that his sister did know the woman. Neither introduced themselves to each other. He knew something or someone wanted him to see this interaction but he still felt like a voyeur while he watched his sister talk with the woman about the play they were going to be in. So much had changed while he was away at college concentrating on his studies. He had forgotten until now that his sister's life had gone on without him. Maybe Yao was right about his arrogance.

"My brother is finally home from college and now I've got to convince him to show up on opening night." Donna's voice sounded nervous as if she wasn't sure she would be able to pull it off. She had always seemed so confident when she was asking something from him so the change in tone took him by surprise. Was this how she was when he hadn't been there?

The woman spoke back with a voice that utterly enchanted him. "I'm sure he'll be there for you. He always has been and I'm sure he always will be." Her voice was clear but there was sadness in her eyes as she spoke of Donna's family.

"This time you simply must meet him, please? I just know that you two would get along and I think he's kind of lonely while he's away. He might not say it but a sister knows these things. I just know you are destined to be with him, and then we'll be sisters." A nervous giggle escaped his sister and he remembered the younger girl who was so energetic. That Energy he remembered had been slightly missing in the last two years. Had he been focusing too much on his studies and not the people around him? That was one argument one of his colleagues had stated during their exams. It was then he realized he couldn't really call any of them friends, only colleagues. It troubled him to admit that only now could he honestly say to himself that he had been too focused. He wished he could have gone back to warn himself somehow to spend the time he had wisely, but if he could he would have altered history to save his sister.

"Perhaps, one day we might but I think for now he might be too focused to see me."

The door of the hairdresser opened and a strong wind blew into the room in it he could have sworn he heard the words "Do you see me?" Stephen looked out the window of the hairdresser and saw the woman in the purple dress again looking into at his sister and her friend.

"Clea, how are you doing?" the woman who entered the shop greeted his sister's friend and finally Stephen knew her name and with it, he began to remember some subtle hints his sister had been giving him in the year leading up to this day. A friend of hers that had moved from far away and Donna's friend had a horrible family. Clea's mother had abandoned her right after birth and her father was so devoted to her uncle that he never payed attention to her. The information had all been there but it had taken so long for him to piece it together properly.

The woman in the purple with white hair vanished again but he could see a trail of petals in the snow leading in the direction of the bookstore. Having felt like he had heard what he was supposed to hear from his sister, Stephen floated through the window of the shop towards where his younger self, had gone shopping following a trail of petals that nobody else seemed able to see.

He found the door to the old bookshop with ease. He had taken the route many times when he visited his hometown. He could have taken the route asleep if need be, which was ironic given the situation. As he entered the shop he became aware of scents and auras that he only recognized after his training with the Ancient One. As his astral form floated around the library he became aware that a number of the books did not fit in with what he remembered, or perhaps he never saw them in the first place. The owner is a mage, Stephen thought to himself even as Ebony the cat leapt onto the shop counter and looked right at his Astral form. The cat then turned to its mistress and meowed. He could hear the older woman speak clearly to the cat, "I Know Ebony but he isn't ready to hear it yet, neither of them are, but I think soon the other one will realize what is going on." He only realized now she was Agatha Harkness, a magic user that the Ancient One had frequently talked about during their training.

He watched as his younger self, brought a few books to the counter and Agatha handed him a package he had ordered for his sister. The box contained a book of musicals that would have been her Christmas present this year. "Are you really still going to New York? It is wonderful to have a bookstore like this here."

"Yes, heading east will be a good thing for me. I found a nice place for my restoration shop in the Baxter Building. A shop here would be nice and relaxing, but there aren't that many customers and I have family in the area that I would like to reconnect with. You should stop by sometime I'm sure to have a more substantial collection of novels at my new store."

Stephen knew it would not happen. With the loss of his sister he only turned more inward shutting out everything but his studies. He wondered how Agatha was getting along now that the explorer group, the Fantastic Four had established their base in the same building. He made a note to check up on her and regretted that he had not done so in so many years.

For a brief moment, he had forgotten about the white-haired woman he had been seeing in his dream until he noticed she was watching him from across the street. She wasn't watching his past self, but his astral form. When he moved to get closer to her a gust of wind and falling snow blinded him long enough for her to vanish again. The weather was starting to take a turn for the worst and Stephen knew what would happen next. He wondered what his subconscious could possibly think he would gain by watching the events unfold yet again. They had played out so many times in his dreams up until now and each time was worse than the last.

Stephen watched as his past self and his sister bundled into the truck and headed back towards the farm. He felt sick in his stomach as they approached the bridge over the Platte River. It was the first time he could see the events from the outside of the truck he had been driving. He noticed the white-haired woman again this time by the bridge and she looked like she was trying to tell him something, to warn him away, but Stephen hadn't seen her then. As the tires of the truck touched the bridge, Stephen braced himself for the wind that would happen next.

He could see it this time, the wind that seemed like it was aimed at his family's truck but this time he could see something inside the wind. It was a creature covered in white fur in the shape of a large twisted human, the skin under his fur a dark blue. The only clothing the creature wore was a collar of which Stephen immediately recognized as belonging to Baron Karl Mordo, his rival. How was this possible, the words repeated in his mind as he watched the creature bearing down on the truck?

"He fears you, even then, he saw your potential." The wind carried the voice again to Dr. Strange as he watched the creature knock the truck containing his past self and his sister to the side off the bridge and into the river. Several cars veered barely missing following the same fate but Stephens's eyes were only on the creature as it leapt off the bridge. Mystical energies had clouded their eyes and that is why they didn't see the monster, why they had no idea how much danger they were in.

Stephen's astral form flew over the bridge and saw her, the white-haired woman, as she stood on the shore looking into the waters. He flew down to place a hand on hers and she paused for one moment looking directly into his astral form, but he was certain she couldn't fully see him. She had been there and she was a mage and for some reason, she could sense his astral form looking into the past. He wasn't certain how it made any sense but the Ancient One had mentioned that mages of unusual power could sometimes sense beings of the future or the past watching them. He had a chance to get a much closer look at her and the resemblance to Clea, his sister's friend was so uncanny he was certain they were one and the same.

Stephen watched as the white-haired woman pulled his sister from the waters placing her on the bank of the river. He could tell his sister was freezing and weak but very much alive. He watched as his sister held the woman's hands calling her Clea and how Clea needed to save her brother.

Clea dived into the freezing cold waters where the ice had been broken by the impact of their truck and she remained underwater for a long time. Had he really been underwater that long? He watched as a hairless man walked to the banks of the river approaching his sister. He could tell immediately that the man was a Mhuruuk and watched as he knelt beside his sister placing his hand across her mouth.

Forgetting he was in a dream Stephen attacked the man and watched as his hands passed through the man. The man who was killing his sister paused a moment and looked towards Stephen's astral form before resuming his actions. He watched in horror as a glowing humanoid form sat up from where his sister lay completely still now. The glowing form looked right at him and whispered, "Stephen?" in a confused voice before the hairless man held out a strange looking lamp which began absorbing the energy that passed from his sister.

Unseen by the hairless man, Stephen watched as Clea dragged Stephen's younger form out of the water hiding him behind a fallen log moments before the man turned to her. The young Woman who was not much older than his sister tried to fight back against the man but he quickly overpowered her. He watched as the man dragged her into the air even as people rushed towards his younger self to help him to his feet and towards his sister. He could hear the ambulance siren in the distance.

Not wanting the man to escape Stephen followed the two. He might not be able to stop him yet but he could find out more about the person. He watched as the man flew through the streets of Kearney, magic cloaking his presence from the people of the town until he came upon a small studio. Inside his sister's friend was practicing her dance routine all alone but still wearing her costume. She paused in the middle of the routine and slowly looked towards where the man floated holding the white-haired woman who looked so much like her by the arm.

"You are a willful child who has disobeyed me yet again and for your arrogance, I have had to take the soul of a witness. May the Dread Dormammu never have to find out about this event."

Stephen watched as the young girl pleaded for her friend only to see the cold look on her father remain in place, frozen much like the weather.

"I will take her with us on the condition you remain in the dark dimension until Dormammu can conquer it. Otherwise, who knows what will happen to her. When we return I want you to go back to observing Sir Bentley. He will be required for the future invasion." Stephen watched as the hairless man forced the two women together and watched in horror as they merged and he began to realize the woman in purple that he had been watching was Clea's astral form. All her heard them was her weak reply, "Yes father" The two vanished and Stephen woke from his dream to find the levitation cloak draped over him like a blanket. He knew at that moment he would be required in England.


	3. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 2

Yao, the Ancient one was waiting for his student early that morning. It had been a long time since his last student had a prophecy, a vision, a gift from Gaia herself. The last time had taken Yao to Siberia near Lake Baikal. There among the wheat fields, he found a remnant of Russia's history. They were the descendants and survivors of one of the more powerful mages to have lived in the years leading up to the October revolution. It was here that he found the descendants of one Grigory Efimovich Rasputin. He had arrived far too late to do very much for the eldest son. He could see that a long path to the stars for Mikhail Nikolaievitch Rasputin and Odyssey that would make Odysseus long journey home seem rather short.

Within each of the three children was hidden a seed left by a great power known as the Celestials. He could see each of the children tapping into this power. The two eldest boys only possessed this power. He could see Mikhail being able to alter space itself warping gas, liquid, and solids with ease. In the younger brother Piotr Nikolaeivitch Rasputin, he saw an armor that would be able to withstand even the strongest of blows. He saw a boy that would grow up to become a man of living metal, of living steel.

It had been the youngest child, a girl named Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina that caused the largest amount of concern. He could see the manipulations of the old mage Rasputin in all three children. The Steel of Piotr would provide a barrier that even Rasputin would be unable to breach. His skin would ensure that Piotr would never be able to use magic. He could feel his magic energy weaken as it reached the Iron buried deep in the young boy's power. It had activated recently during his thirteenth birthday and the aura of his first transformation still remained. Around the child was a sphere, a void where magic simply died.

For the eldest, his journey among the stars would place him well outside Rasputin's grasp, but the youngest would have no such defense. He could see her ties to Limbo already and it was all he could do to place some spells on her to sever the ties to her ancestor when her power first activated. He could see the future symbol that the youngest two would gravitate towards, an X. A gathering of similarly blessed or cursed individuals who would get a hint as to why they were different but remain so far off the mark.

Now another prophecy had arrived in their hidden world and he did not think it would be the last. Now he would be needed to help guide his student in understanding what he saw. When he saw Stephen's face he knew it must have been a bad vision. He knew a bit about his history although much was still blocked from his view and even the eye of Agamotto did not assist in making the visions clearer.

Yao waited patiently as Stephen told the story of his vision. It was a tragic story of how he relieved one of the worst days of his life, the day when his sister passed away. His student had thought at the time his sister had drowned, but his vision had shown Stephen things that were not visible to him at the time. Of a creature who knocked their truck off a bridge while they attempted to return home. What had been thought to be a stray wind was nothing of the sort. What Froze Yao's heart, however, was the description of Dormammu's brother in law, and his niece.

This was important, he knew. From the description, Clea had done everything she could to save Stephen's life but she could do nothing for his sister. He could see the pain and guilt of failing Donna all over again, the unhealed wound torn apart now, but with a greater tragedy. He pondered if he should tell Stephen about the story of the lantern. It was an old tale that had been embellished on over the years.

The tale had been collected within a book that his student had recognized immediately, the Book of One Thousand and One Nights, under the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp. Long ago a powerful mage had been trapped within the lamp, sealed away to use his power for the owner of the lamp. The Djinn of the lamp was the more powerful sealed being of the story, although there was another held within a ring that a sorcerer had given Aladdin. Over the years the lamp in question had been lost to the sands of time after Aladdin used his last wish to free the Djinn trapped within it.

Yao had often wondered what had become of the lamp. It was a powerful vessel to trap someone of great power and no doubt Clea's father was there to trap one of the Strange children within the lamp. It seemed Donna was the new Djinn of the lamp and he wasn't sure how his student would respond to that. She was trapped in a sort of half-life now, tied to the lamp until she could be freed. What happened, however, was a deviation of the original story. When the Djinn of the lamp had been trapped both body and spirit were held within until finally freed, but this time only Donna's spirit was trapped within the lamp.

That had been the fate that Clea had spared Stephen from. Regret filled Yao as he realized if he had been more aware of the world outside Kamar-Taj he might have been able to spare both of them. What would have happened then? Would Stephen Strange still have been his student? Still, it was important that Stephen knew the items that he may run into during his adventure.

He could see the strings behind the events and sensed Dormammu manipulating his previous student. The one who went very wrong despite everything that Yao had tried to do to keep him on the right path. He could see how Dormammu played on Mordo's fear of not being the best, of not earning the title that he had been working for so long for, that of Sorcerer Supreme. This manipulation had lead Mordo to curse a young Stephen Strange, the one he had perceived as a future rival. What Mordo never considered was where all that information had come from. How did he know that Stephen Strange would eventually arrive in Kahar-Taj? By himself he wouldn't have known, the visions were beyond him.

What would his student think if he only knew that all the pain and suffering he and his family lived through was to bring him here to this very moment. What would he risk if he told him, and what trust would he be throwing away if he did not. From the look in Stephen's eyes Yao could tell that his student was on the verge of this understanding.

The Eye of Agamotto froze time for him and for a few moments he studied the look of confusion remaining on his student's face. The world vanished in blinding light and Yao found himself floating far above a Nebraska town. He watched as far below a creature of ice snow and magic knocked a certain truck off the bridge it had just traveled on. Snow and ice nearly obscured his vision but he could see clearly the two in the truck as they desperately tried to brace for the future impact they were only now becoming aware of. In the Driver's seat, he could see a young woman of around 17 years and he knew the eye was showing him the events of another world.

He watched as Clea brought up Stephen first this time leaving him on the bank of the Platte river. As Clea dived under the waters to save the other one, the friend she had grown attached to, he watched as Orini absorbed the soul of Stephen Strange into the lamp that. He watched as Stephen's soul transformed to become the new Djinn trapped in that world just as his sister had been trapped in this one. He watched as Clea surfaced with Donna hiding her as she did for Strange in this world.

The eye did not stop there, but also showed years later as a young woman, a famous singer whose voice had become damaged in an accident arrived on the door of Kamar-Taj of another world. He could see the Ancient One of another world training her as he had done for Strange and watched as her potential increased with each day.

Not content with that the eye continued and he watched vision after vision as alternates played out. One time it was a scared man wearing dark grey iron armor with a green cloak who showed up on his door. Another time he saw a young Illyana having been sent there at a young age to spare her from a crackdown against mutants in Russia. He saw men and women of various types all marching towards the role of Sorcerer Supreme and Yao believed he knew what the Eye of Agamotto was trying to tell him. He would put his faith in Stephen Strange, the one that Gaia had drawn to Kama-Taj in this universe.

The name Sir Clive Bently brought to mind one of the weak points in the barrier that protected Earth from Dormammu. It was an old injury, torn into the Earth by a battle where a collection of warriors including Agamotto attempted to drive away the first Celestial host to arrive on earth. It had been such a disaster that it tore a small hole into the magic shield that surrounded the planet. At first, this small hole was hardly larger than a grain of sand, but over time the barrier had worn away on the edge of the hole. Yao knew that this might be where Dormammu would attempt to return to Earth to complete the war he had started so long ago.

"Stephen, the island where you will be going is just to the southeast of the Ilse of man, off the coast of Wales. There is an island there, hidden from the rest of the world. Those who do not possess the gift, are unable to see it. They only see water. The spells on the shores turn their eyes elsewhere. Those who sail in the area find themselves sailing around it without realizing. To assist you with this, I am lending you an item of power. It may be too soon for this, but the eye of Agamotto tells me that you will need it." In every vision of those other worlds, this always happened. That he would give his student the eye of Agamotto to assist them when they finally faced the Dread Lord Dormammu. This was the destiny of those who would become the Sorcerer Supreme, in any reality or time they resided.

"The Eye of Agamotto? Does this mean I am the Sorcerer Supreme now?" The doctor looked like he wasn't sure he should be happy or horrified by the gift. It was a feeling that Yao could understand, he had felt the same way the first time he was presented with the Eye. When he became the Ancient One he learned that was one of the signs to know he had the right type of student. Someone who knew not just the power behind the eye but knew that it was every bit as dangerous as it was powerful. In the wrong hands, the eye would destroy the user as quickly as it would a target, it could drive the strongest mind insane with possibilities. Only someone who truly respected the power of the eye would have any hope of using it safely. Any student who wanted it recklessly was not worthy of the eye and if they ever possessed it would quickly suffer a fate far worse than death.

"There is a little more to become the Sorcerer Supreme than that. Officially this will be determined later, but until then you will temporarily wield the power. Do not abuse this responsibility, and if you can avoid using the greater powers then I would suggest you do so."

The sound of paper fluttering in the wind caught both his attention and his students as both watched a small letter float across the sky to land on his desk. He didn't have to pick up the letter to know from whom the letter was sent. The symbols on the letter alone were a message. Sir Clive was desperate, and he needed help badly. As he read the letter he could see a bit behind the chaos on that island. The letter described creatures of myth rising on the island and placing Sir Clive's manor under siege. So far there had only been four deaths and they were sure they could hold out for a while, but morale was beginning to drop.

The list of myths on the island was curious. they were from around the world and not just European in nature. He wondered how vampires from China ended up there but noted that Clive had stated. "Your studies have progressed quite a bit, but I think that you may need assistance. I think I'll send Wong with you. He will prove a valuable resource and you should take advantage of his knowledge.

He knew that information would perhaps get across just how serious the situation was. For the last thousand years, the firstborn of Wong's family had served the Ancient One directly. Perhaps this would give Stephen the edge he would need in the battles ahead. As Stephen returned to his rooms, Yao was once more left in the silence of his room. As he meditated he remembered the last few times he had faced Dormammu, and how much each of those battles had cost both physically and mentally. His time on this would be at an end soon, and now it was the time for another to take up the battle. Even without the Eye of Agamotto, he could recall a number of those worlds where a different student had progressed far enough to become Sorcerer Supreme. As hard as it was to admit it he knew that no matter what would happen there always be someone to take up the fight. To continue to protect the Earth despite the costs from creatures that would destroy everything in sight.

There, however, was something that he could do to help relieve the pressure that Stephen would be under. Yao still had contacts among the mages of England and knew he could contact Merlyn or his daughter Roma. The two were working on a potential student in the form of Brian Braddock, a man destined to become Captain Britain, protector of the United Kingdom. Perhaps he would be enough to free Donna from her prison within the lamp. He knew that soon Brian would be presented with what seemed like a choice, The Amulet of Right, or the Sword of Might. He would be given a choice between life and death. It would have to be enough,


	4. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 3

London, England in December was a sight to behold. Fresh snow covered the ground from the last dusting, and Christmas decorations all around. Stephen had often traveled to London, but usually for business. The last time he actually visited the city to relax was with Madeleine St. Germaine as she was then and after the divorce was once again. Those were happier times until he allowed his quest for security and funds to overwhelm him. Stephen was recovering from the passing of his mother, Beverly Strange when he first met her. She was working as a translator at the United Nations and they needed the best surgeon in the city, needless to say, they sought out Dr. Strange.

It had surprised Stephen at the time just how well they got along. Their passions burned hot and upon later reflection, he had to admit that was part of the problem. The year and a half they had together still brought back a number of fond memories and he wondered how she was doing lately. He knew he shouldn't stay long but he couldn't help retracing the steps of his honeymoon, to see what had changed and what had remained the same.

Passing by a store window Stephen noticed a poster of Alison Blaire, but not under her stage name of Dazzler. Before Stephen had left for Tibet he remembered seeing one of the posters for her first concert. At the time he thought her outfit was a little out there, an extremely tight silver outfit and shoes along with what looked like a disco ball on her necklace. The only color to the ensemble was her makeup, bright blue, and teal in the design of a butterfly around both of her eyes. It almost looked like a mask that some of those super-powered individuals used. He could understand the use for stage names, since it would allow her to keep parts of her career separate, far more easily sing in multiple genres. Here she was in a completely different type of dress, far more traditional. It looked like she was doing a Christmas concert here in London, something he was far more likely to attend. He knew she was talented in other music. It was only his preference was for the more traditional music although he had to admit that jazz was very relaxing.

The Dress Alison was wearing in the poster did bring up memories of his sister, so freshly uncovered by his vision. Christmas had always been his sister's favorite Holliday. Something Stephen had taken great lengths to avoid since she passed away. It had been her dream to celebrate it in England one day. He knew that Donna was looking into a music career similar to Allison, even if their usual music genres differed greatly. What If. If she hadn't passed away would he be seeing a poster of her, in London living the dream she had always wanted? A vision appeared in his mind and he could hear the eye of Agamotto whispering directly into his thoughts.

Images of his sister flashed into his mind for a brief moment and he saw his answer. She was every bit as dedicated to singing as he had been to his surgical career. The Ancient one had warned him of this, that if he wasn't careful the eye might show he what he wanted to see, rather than what he should be see. As he began trying to think of other things to take his mind off of his family the images of Alison and another woman appeared in his mind. The pianist Barbara London, and she looked so much like Alison Blaire he was certain he was seeing mother and daughter.

"Very talented girl, although I'm not fond of her dabbling in that music the call disco."

To his immediate left stood a somewhat short old man about 5'5" looking like he had stepped off the movie set of Miracle on 3th street. He looked so much like the English actor Edmund Gwenn he thought for a moment the actor had returned to life somehow. The man studied him from behind elaborate spectacles only taking a moment to lightly tug on his expertly trimmed beard. The suit he wore was in the older style but very fashionable and part of Stephen's mind told him he should know the man.

"What brings someone of our profession here?" The look of puzzlement must have been on his face as the man quickly added, "Not medicine, the other." As he wiggled his fingers a bit dramatically.

For a moment Stephen wondered how much he should divulge when he remembered seeing the man's painting before. It was an old one painted some 300 years ago depicting the magic user, Merlyn.

He was about to answer the older man when he felt the crackle of energy filling the air around them. A Thin yellow line of energy appeared in the next to them, light shining through the tear in the universe as it began to grow downward taking on the form of a door, a portal into another dimension. A young woman, taller than the man by about a half a foot with long dark hair in a ponytail that reached her knees, stepped through the portal of energy. For a moment the armored clothing the woman wore reminded him of Dazzler's stage outfit. The very tight fitting silver outfit, however, was lined with words from many ancient languages each letter brimming with magical energies. He knew at once he was looking at the Lady of the Northern Lights, Roma, interesting enough the daughter of the very man he was talking with.

"Father we need you." The woman looked truly panicked and Stephen decided to remain quiet to see what was going on first.

Merlyn, however, looked more annoyed at the interruption. "No."

The young woman looked stunned for a moment before continuing. Betsy needs you, Vixen sent an assassin against the Psi Division she has been working with."

"Did it ever occur to you to look at who is with us?" Roma's puzzled look followed as Merlyn continued. "I cannot leave here until Brian returns. He hasn't made the decision yet. I cannot strand him there not even for his sister. She will live. That will have to be enough." A look of pain crossed the old man's eyes, something he had seen many times before, sometimes in the mirror. It was the look of someone who has had to remove a leg in order to save the patient. Perhaps he could assist before moving on.

"Sir Clive Bently."

For a moment Merlyn looked confused before turning to face the west. He watched as Merlyn eyes widened. "The Island, something is very wrong there. I cannot assist you with that either. The events here are too important." The older man looked like he had more to say, but turned and walked away leaving the two. The silence between stretched as Roma looked in the direction her father disappeared. After a moment Roma took a deep breath and turned to Stephen. "My father is so focused, often to the deprivation of everything else. I think we can help each other. There is a doctor in the states we need desperately to help with Betsy, she is injured severely and we cannot take her to a hospital. Do you know my father's teleportation spell, Mr.?"

"It's Doctor actually, Dr. Strange."

He watched as the woman looked surprised. "The Ancient One's student?" a moment later her brain caught up with what she heard. "Wait, Doctor?"

"I'll leave a message for Wong to meet us where?"

"Maldon"

Stephen took a moment to craft a message spell before sending it off to the hotel where Wong would still be preparing for the rest of the journey. "Now, while we travel there you can tell me what happened."

Roma opened another dimensional portal, this time Stephen could see through it. On the other side of the portal, he could see an ancient manor, the signs of battle scared the driveway and the front door of the manor had been shattered into splinters. "The Psi Division of S.T.R.I.K.E. was attacked by an assassin that goes by the alias Slaymaster. Only three survived and Betsy was horribly injured." He watched as she paused struggling to describe the injuries. Multiple stabbings but the worst was that the monster had gouged out her eyes. To protect her identity and to help bleed out the psi energy damage one of the surviving psi division members had the girl in a sort of stasis.

He removed the spell around his hands showing Roma just how damaged they remained. He would no longer be able to perform the surgery, but he could assist someone who could. They simply needed to catch up with an old colleague of his, Linda Carter, the Night Nurse.

Linda Jane Carter had finally gotten a day off and all she could think of was how she just wanted to draw a bubble bath and then just sleep, forever would be ideal. Sleeping Beauty had the right idea. She knew she didn't want to sleep that long but it was so tempting. If she wasn't working, if the neighbor across from her apartment wasn't trying to once more set her up, she might even have some time to complete the decorations for her gothic Christmas theme.

She even had the perfect outfit for it as well, a velvet dress so dark as to be almost black, with black fur trim and some bat-themed jewelry to accent it. Christine Palmer said Linda was giving Elvira a run for her money but she thought deep down her friend was a little jealous. Her friend was five foot four inches and immensely jealous of her friend's five foot nine height. In return, Linda was a little jealous of her best friend's hair, not the shade so much as the slight curl it possessed. It took a lot of work to get her own hair just perfect. Still, each person wants something the other has seemed to be the nature of life sometimes. At the moment she was even more jealous of her cat, Midnight, who was probably sleeping in his favorite place, in her sweater drawer. She often wondered just how the cat kept opening it and deep down she was convinced either it knew telekinesis or it was trained by ninja.

The moment she placed her back down she heard a knock at the door. It was likely Mrs. Evans next door once more with someone she wanted Linda to meet. If she was lucky she could get herself out of a long conversation. Her dreams of a long bubble bath were defiantly in jeopardy. As she opened the door she received a much larger shock, it was her old colleague, Dr. Stephen Strange. He could be a jerk at times but he was extremely skilled. She remembered when he hadn't been so money obsessed. Unlike some of their other colleagues, she knew the reason behind Strange's obsession with money. It had everything to do with security. He wanted a world where he wouldn't be left behind just as he had lost everyone from his family. He was terrified of losing that again and money represented a security against that. In a number of ways, he was like her ex-fiancé, Marshall Michaels.

It was really horrible what happened to Stephen in the car accident. She remembered the look in his eyes when he realized he could no longer perform surgeries. That all the precision he had worked on his entire life would be gone, forever. She had tried to convince Stephen to take on a job as a consultant. The hospital could still use his mind even if his hands were no longer the instruments they used to be, but no amount of persuasion had worked. Not long after he vanished until now.

He was wearing an interesting looking costume, almost like the ones that the heroes she had been helping recently wore, but without the full mask that Spider-man wore or the part mask of Daredevil. The Cloak he wore was incredibly impressive and it took her a moment before her mind caught up with the situation. Why was Stephen dressed like this and who was the woman who was equally outlandishly dressed? She invited the two into her apartment glancing out into the hall to see if anyone was watching and sure enough, she saw the retreating heads of several of the worst gossips in the building retreating into their own places. She had hoped to keep her position as Night Nurse hidden and she would have words with Stephen for possibly wrecking that when she wondered how and if he even knew.

As she was turning she caught a glimpse of the two in the mirror and did a double take. Both of them were dressed normally there. Stephen was wearing a very expensive suit and his guest a dress that Linda instantly fell in love with, but she was seeing something completely different. She caught Stephen watching her with a silly grin on his face.

"It's magic, to your neighbors we look like two normal people paying a visit."

"It is good to see you out and about and doing well." So Stephen had been to Tibet. Long way to go to find peace of mind but her old colleague did look happier. "So what brings you here?"

"I need your help. A woman in England has been severely injured..."

"And you need someone discrete who works with superheroes?" The puzzled look on Dr. Strange's face was interesting to see, it rarely happened before the accident. She then remembered that he had been away in Tibet for some time so he didn't know very much about the new heroes appearing, or even some of the old ones. Captain America was walking the planet again and that was so amazing, he had fought during World War II but somehow managed to survive being trapped in ice for so long. That alone had brought up a number of ethical debates on the use of the super soldier serum as well as the conspiracy theorist who kept going on about project zero and how there had been more experimentations. One or two mentioned a wild man in Canada with metal claws that popped out of his hands.

As Stephen described to Linda the injuries the woman had received she wondered how she had remained alive and just how they would be able to do anything about it. She would be dead long before they got to England. It was then that Stephen pulled out another strange thing and it was far stranger than what she had seen from the heroes of New York. He created a warp or tear in the fabric of reality linking them to an old manor in England. As she stepped through the portal she was shocked, not just by the act of teleporting halfway around the word but where she was, Braddock Manor.

"The patient is Elizabeth Braddock?"

Once more her two companions were shocked at how she knew, but she pointed out that Elizabeth was a world famous model. What she saw of her injuries broke her heart. She was fairly certain something could be done to keep her from scaring but there was no way to replace her lost eyes. What kind of monster would tear someone's eyes out? Elizabeth seemed to be doing well enough, far better than she expected. She wondered how the other woman always knew the precise location of people around the room, even those she had no way of hearing. It wasn't just a manner of looking in the same direction. Elizabeth looked right into the eyes of the person who was talking to her as if she could still see them.

It was different working with Dr. Strange again, this time with him walking her through the procedure. She wondered if he would go back to doing this kind of work again but the costume he was wearing suggested otherwise. She noted that Elizabeth had also worn a similar costume as well only with the design of the union jack incorporated into the costume. Magic and medicine had come together to save Elizabeth's life but she would never see again.

She left the Butler to read a letter of a penpal from America to the woman to somehow cheer her up, an American named Hank McCoy. It was after cleaning up that she finally had a chance to talk with Stephen again. To her surprise, his calling was magic, something she didn't doubt given that extremely fast trip to England. The price of the teleportation, however, would be that the energy spent in such rapid travel would be unavailable for some time. She thanked her lucky stars she was on vacation for the next few days. Part of her wondered if Stephen had planned that, but something like that was impossible, she happened to be the one he could trust to save Elizabeth Braddock's life. She wouldn't get paid for it but here was the perfect chance to travel to England, something she had always wanted to do but hadn't gotten the chance yet. As she relaxed in her finally drawn bubble bath she wondered what other surprises Dr. Strange would bring to her, or what he would think when he found out about her side business as the Night Nurse.


	5. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 4

As the Muave tinted snowflakes drifted towards the ground, Clea knew her uncle was mocking her. Reminding her of the time she attempted to escape his clutches and the soul that was taken that day. Her servants or better-stated jailers had once more forced her into the dress she wore the day that Donna Strange had died, according to Earth that is. Clea knew differently, her soul was still trapped within the lamp that her father had intended for Stephen Strange.

She was certain that Stephen would blame her for that in her mind she felt she deserved his hatred. The light filtered through Azure skies, a corruption of Dormammu's dominance twisted everything. She cupped some snow in her hand knowing what it should look like had she been on Earth. She wanted to see the pure white snow of Earth, uncontaminated by her uncle's influence. Even the fur lining on her dress took on a thistle hew, the red of her dress much darker than it should be.

There had to be a way out of the dimension, out of the prison but she could no longer find a way through the dimensions to Earth again. As she walked through the village where she had lived her entire life she wondered what her mother would have done. Umar had abandoned her when she was still a baby and had not been seen since. She wished her mother had taken her along wherever she had left to.

Clea walked into her family home and her jailers greeted her with a smile. With no way to escape the dark dimension, there was no need to stop her from wandering around. It was far worse than being stuck in a single room. She had been given freedom or the illusion of freedom. In truth, the entire Dark Dimension was her prison and had been for some time now. A tiny cell wouldn't have given her hope of actual freedom someday. As Clea passed her other's room she paused. She hadn't been in the room in some time although she did know the servants cleaned the room regularly.

Everything was as her mother left it, various items from her travels across the Dark Dimension and all the dimensions they had conquered. She wondered what had brought her into this room, this reminder of someone who had abandoned her. It felt like she was moving on autopilot and she allowed her instincts to take control wondering where they would lead her. On her mother's nightstand sat a small elaborately decorated hand mirror, she wondered why she hadn't seen it before. The mirror had a strange energy to it, magic not from either the Dark Dimension or her mother's native home dimension. The mirror itself wasn't like normal glass either but a clear blue liquid which clung to the base of the hand mirror. The frame was made of the wood from an olive tree with tiny owls etched into the tree design that encircled the water mirror. As she stared into the water mirror she felt an echo of energy in the room. Following the echo she found a much larger mirror covered in a velvet cloth, runes and languages from earth covered the cloth and below it a much larger mirror of the same design as the handheld.

The runes on the cloth seemed to tell her the path to take. "Show me."

"Douce nuit, sainte nuit. Dans les cieux. L'astre luit. Le mystère annoncé s'accomplit. Cet enfant sur la paille endormi, C'est l'amour infini. C'est l'amour infini." Alison Blaire's clear voice drifted out encircling her audience in the peace of the season. It was her favorite time of the year, simply for the music alone. She might enjoy the other genres of music she sang from Disco to Jazz but this had always been her favorite. Her tour of London was going very well, she was in the sleepy town of Maldon, England, the hometown of her best friend Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock. The two had met on a photo shoot and had been friends ever since. Alison wished that Betsy could have been at the concert but something had happened. She vowed to give a private concert to her longtime friend when the official one was over with.

"Saint enfant, doux agneau. Qu'il est grand. Qu'il est beau. Entendez résonner les pipeaux. Des bergers conduisant leurs troupeaux. Vers son humble berceau. Vers son humble berceau." She could see the famous Doctor Stephen Strange in the audience and she reveled in the fact he was watching her sing. She didn't recognize the woman with him but her intuition told her they weren't as close as she originally feared. Still, Alison brought out her best dress when she saw him waiting in the audience. When she strode out in her silver snowflake patterned gown she knew she had every eye on her.

"C'est vers nous qu'il accourt, En un don sans retour. De ce monde ignorant de l'amour, Où commence aujourd'hui son séjour. Qu'il soit Roi pour toujours. Qu'il soit Roi pour toujours." As she sang she wondered if Stephen remembered the first time they had met. Her sister had been injured and Dr. Strange had been the surgeon. She was certain only he could have saved her. It was then that her crush had begun. He had looked so magnificent in his doctors gown that he quite simply took her breath away. This wasn't a common feeling for her, she was used to elevating the feelings of her audience not the other way around.

"Quel accueil pour un Roi. Point d'abri, point de toit. Dans sa crèche il grelotte de froid, O pécheur, sans attendre la croix. Jésus souffre pour toi. Jésus souffre pour toi." She felt guilt when found out about the divorce of Stephen and Madeleine Strange. She felt like a horrible person at that point, unable to look at herself in the mirror. It had taken some time to forgive herself for her thoughts, she was certain now they wouldn't have worked out but she shouldn't have wished for what she did. The Divorce had hurt both of them she was certain. Then there was that accident.

"Paix à tous. Gloire au ciel. Gloire au sein maternel, Qui pour nous, en ce jour de Noël, Enfanta le Sauveur éternel. Qu'attendait Israël. Qu'attendait Israël." After the accident, she had sent out several invitations to come to one of her concerts. She had followed the tabloids and knew just how bad the injuries had been. Since then she had wanted to sing for him to bring some hope back to him but he never attended, until now. She took a deep breath and signaled her piano player. She was going to make a slight change in the plan. She would sing this while his eyes were on her. It was a recent song but she had it memorized. It was time to sing, "What are you doing New Year's Eve."

Linda Carter was glad to have a break. Ever since helping Elizabeth Braddock she had been exhausted and a night out would be just the thing to revive her. It was amazing that the famous singer Alison Blaire would be performing in Maldon of all places. It took a few moments for her to remember that Elizabeth and Alison were very close friends. Elizabeth had even been in a number of the young singer's concerts playing the piano for her even as Alison had taken on a few modeling jobs with her friend. As she was seated at the table she wondered how the concert would be. She had heard Alison's jazz concerts and loved her Disco music but this was the first time she had ever heard the woman singing Christmas songs. This would be so much of a treat she thought to herself as she took in the ambiance of the club.

The club was decked out with a very lovely old world Christmas theme with the waiters and waitresses dressed as elves. The dress of the waitress really gave her ideas of how she could adapt it for her Gothic Christmas theme back home. Each time the waitress moved tiny jingle bells on her skirt chimed. The skirt was longer than she liked but that could be easily adapted, otherwise, Midnight would never give her a moment's rest as the cat simply loved bating bells with his paws.

When Alison walked out on stage she heard gasps rising from the crowd. She was absolutely beautiful in her shimmering silver dress. Linda could see faint snowflake patterns as the singer moved with the music. Her French version of Silent Night was stunning. Linda watched as she motioned to the piano player and wondered what salvo would come next.

"Maybe it's much too early in the game. Ooh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same. What are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?"

It took her only a moment to realize that Alison's attention was completely focused on her companion, Stephen Strange. She had heard Alison singing to the crowd before and it was amazing, but this was a completely different experience and Linda found it utterly romantic. She was singing to one person in the crowd now and Linda could hear every bit of passion the singer had in her. Part of her felt she should be jealous, but another part of her wondered what would happen if her friend did go along with the leggy blonde.

"Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight. When it's exactly twelve o'clock that night. Welcoming in the New Year, New Year's Eve."

When she looked over to Stephen she could tell he was completely unaware of what was going on. Of the campaign be waged for him from the stage.

"Maybe I'm crazy to suppose, I'd ever be the one you chose, Out of the thousand invitations, you received. But in case I stand one little chance. Here comes the jackpot question in advance: What are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?"

Linda spared a glance around the room and noticed that every woman picked up on the signals she was sending the Doctor. She had once thought that Dazzler's special light show was blatant. She had no idea just how Alison could be when she wanted to. Being so close to Stephen she could see the full effect of it as Alison sang directly and only for her friend and for a moment she felt the passion behind the song. She shook her head briefly to try to clear her thoughts but her heart just wouldn't listen.

"Ooh, but in case I stand one little chance. Here comes the jackpot question in advance: What are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?"

The song was intoxicating and all she could think of was, 'how could Stephen be so blind to what he was experiencing?' She wanted to kick him under the table even as Alison moved on to another song.

Clea watched as the woman on stage sang and it was clear she was singing to her Stephen. She felt the pang of jealousy as she watched the beautiful woman move from song after song. Each breathy note that escaped the blonde's lips was a letter directed at one person. In her time she hadn't reached this level of performance and she wanted more than ever to be in her place singing that way for Stephen.

"I'll keep you warm in December. Warm when the cold breezes blow. My arms so lovin', a kind of oven, to melt the sleet and snow."

She remembered hearing Julie London sing this song in the many times she snuck onto Earth. It was one of the first songs that she had learned to sing while in the human world.

"This heart that glows like an ember, longs to be loved just by you. If it could be so, then you'd keep me so warm in December too."

She wanted to be there so much. She found every inch of her soul wanted this wish so desperately she didn't realize when she had grabbed hold of the sides of her mother's mirror. All her energy was focused on it and she felt the energy of the mirror building.

"If it could be so, then you'd keep me so, warm in December.

"Oooh - it's cool in December. Please keep me warm in, December too"

The world seemed to warp around her, a tunnel of mystic energy enveloped her as she fell into the mirror and once more felt the sweet air of earth fill her lungs. She was standing just out of view behind a Christmas tree and noticed the surprised look on the blonde woman's face, so much clearer now that Clea was no longer watching through a portal. It was as if she were looking at a kindred spirit and before she knew it she was walking out onto the stage leaning close to woman's ear she whispered a request. The woman smiled and agreed before signaling her piano player, "White Christmas."

Stephen sat up in his chair the moment he saw the other woman walk onto the stage from behind a Christmas tree. He knew the woman. She looked exactly the same as she did the day that his sister had died. His sister's soul had been taken from them. It was Clea. Neither time nor tide seemed to touch her as she seemed as ageless now as she was then. The only change was the gold dress that seemed to perfectly compliment the silver one Alison wore.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and children listen, To hear sleigh bells in the snow"

In his mind so many questions were repeating, there was so much he wanted to ask her, but he was stunned and knew it. She was so enchanting standing there, her voice blending so perfectly with Alison Blaire's as if they were meant to sing together.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and children listen, To hear sleigh bells in the snow."

Linda glanced over at her friend and for the first time, she saw a reaction when the new woman took to the stage. Where Alison had sun with deep passion there was something different with this new woman. It took her a few moments to put her finger on it, but the emotions from her voice were deeper somehow. Where Alison was a river flowing strongly, Linda now felt the song drifting around her was an ocean so deep she could never hope to find the bottom.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write. May your days be merry and bright And may all your Christmases be white."

As Alison blended her voice perfectly with the woman who suddenly appeared she spared a glance at Dr. Strange and part of her heart fell. The doctor reacted for the first time and it was for the woman she sang with.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know. May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white."

She wanted to hate the woman. She was prepared to. How could she just appear out of nowhere and take Dr. Strange's attention from her? Something in her heart soared all the same at finding someone who obviously loved music as much as she did. She found it impossible to hate the woman even as she gained the attention that Alison sought.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write. May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white. May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white"

It was the perfect ending to the concert. As she thanked the audience for listening she found she wanted to know more about the woman. She obviously wasn't English, and she seemed to have come from a far-off place, further than possible. When she invited the woman back to her changing room she wasn't sure what to expect. She only knew that she needed to talk to her. The woman introduced herself as Clea, but without a last name. She had remembered reading about that name and thought back to her mother's diary, the one her mother left behind when she abandoned Alison and her father.

The diary had mentioned a woman named Clea fitting the exact same description. That Clea's Hair was so blonde that it was white and an extremely beautiful voice. The woman who stood in her changing room was far too young to be the same woman and Alison wondered if it was her daughter. There was a knock at the door and her manager peeked her head in. "Alison there is a Dr. Strange here to meet with you." Something in her heart told her that he was here for Clea, but she knew she would regret not letting him in.

As Dr. Strange and his friend entered her small changing room she spared a glance at the mirror in the room and noticed another person standing in the room. A tall dark man wearing a black suit and cloak with a blood red line moving through it that seemed to pulse. She moved her eyes ever so slightly to the area of the room the man would have stood but saw nothing. When her eyes turned back to the mirror he was closer to the mirror itself somehow as if he were walking towards it from inside the mirror.

Both Dr. Strange and Clea moved as one placing their hands on the mirror, lines of blue energy traced along the mirror forming a pentagram in the center. The man in the mirror hissed turning into a thick black smoke before vanishing from sight.

"I am sorry for involving you in this Miss Blaire" Stephen froze, and Alison noticed the smoke again at his feet and the others in the room. The trail of smoke trailed up their legs reminding her of so many snakes. She felt some of that smoke across her own legs and felt terror. Not for the snake but for the secret she held in her.

Alison Blaire was a mutant. She could absorb sound, all types of sound and transform it into laser light and the light show she often used in her disco concerts. Her terror was that she would be forced to show her powers now, in front of the man she had a crush on and his friends. She didn't want him to hate her like she was certain he would do, but she had to protect him. She took a deep breath and released all the energy she had absorbed. She heard a scream as the smoke vanished again retreating under the door to her changing room and far away.

"I think perhaps you should come with us. We are going to the Braddock Manor..."

"You know Betsy?" Alison found herself interrupting. "Is she okay." She felt panic rise within her. Why would her friend need a doctor? What on Earth was going on?

Stephen took her hands in his. "She's fine, perhaps I can explain better once we are there."

Alison found herself nodding her head. This might not have turned out the way she wanted but he was holding her hands and for now, that was enough.

The songs in this chapter that are sung by Alison Blaire (Dazzler) are:

1: Douce Nuit, a french version of Silent Night

2: What are you doing New Years Eve?

3: Warm in December

4: White Christmas (duet with Clea)


	6. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 5

Her world was darkness, the last thing she saw had been that of the Slaymaster reaching for her head covering her eyes. She felt his fingers pressing on her eyelids and then a burning pain. She remembered hearing her brother shouting for her and then the savage fight that followed. Each punch shook the world leaving her unable to find any balance. She tried to focus all her psi energy and then once more she could see, looking through her brother's eyes. She could see his fists strike out against the monster who stole her sight and knew each blow that hit him was wearing him down slowly. She knew how dangerous the man was, a master assassin who had been on S.T.R.I.K.E.'s radar for some time. It took a criminal taking over the organization to bring him into the fold. Even now nobody knew the Slaymaster's name only his calling card. Her brother might be strong but he was now facing someone who was not only strong but knew how to use his strength. She had to help him somehow.

She had somehow managed to get to her feet in the fight despite numerous injuries the Assassin had given her. She remembered her friends that fell to him and focused all of her anger into her right hand. Kevin Mulhearn, Tom Lennox, Vicki Reppion and Avril Davis all survived the initial attack only to fall to the assassin as they attempted to retreat to Braddock Manner where she knew her brother could help them. She felt every loss as a strike to her heart.

Kevin Mulhearn had taken a huge chance going on stage to get the funds they needed to make a retreat from the city. She and Alison Double both attempted to convince him that there was no need to take such a chance, it was far too dangerous. If they had only known then that Vixen had complete access to Intel of the PSI division from S.T.R.I.K.E. and she was certain he never would have attempted it. Both he and Alison paid for that lack of knowledge. Alison and Kevin had been an item for years since Betsy first met them. The psychic connection between the two was so strong they could communicate for miles away, something that made Betsy a little jealous. When Kevin fell to the Slaymaster that connection exploded through both of the psychics and it took all of Tom Lennox's and her powers to contain the explosion of psychic energy from Alison. She knew the people in the audience watching Kevin should be okay waking up with nothing worse than a minor headache, or major if they had any type of psychic ability. She could only hope that Kevin's sacrifice would buy them enough time to escape.

The survivors had managed to hide in Forbidden Planet, an eccentric bookstore owned by Vicki's family. They had thought they would be safe there while Avril Davis attempted to wake up Alison, but nothing was working. Betsy had been so focused on helping Alison that she lost track of Vicki. Betsy had heard Vicki's scream far too late to help her friend. They managed to escape out the back window, barely. Avril had insisted on being the last person out, someone had to help lower Alison to the alley. The last view she had of her friend was of Slaymaster's hands reaching to grab her head, and then a sickening breaking of bone. With Tom Lennox's help she managed to get the unconscious Alison to a car, at the time she didn't question how Tom got hold of it, they needed to get away quickly.

Tom had been a low-level crook used to boosting cars before Leah Mickleson from the Psi Division had attempted to give him a different more constructive outlet for his skills. Leah had fallen at the headquarters along with half of their number. Denis Rush, Andrew Hornby, Stuart, and Alfred Hatrick were some of the strongest Psychics in the UK, but none of them were able to slow down the Slaymaster. Looking back now they should have known that something was up when the Slaymaster was able to get into their headquarters right in the middle of S.T.R.I.K.E. territory, but fight or flight had taken over.

Somehow the three survivors had made it to Braddock manor without being stopped by authorities. She was certain that Tom had a hand in that as well using his abilities to turn the eyes of the authorities away from their speeding car.

Even with their fantastic escape Slaymaster was only moments behind them arriving in one of the aircraft S.T.R.I.K.E. had commissioned from Stark Industries patterned after their famous Q-Jet, Quinjet. The Wakandan design really stood out and once more drove to home just how outnumbered they were if someone high up in the organization was after them.

She was certain that Tom was in one of the other rooms of the Manor recovering from his fight with the Slaymaster. She wondered just how the two could have survived had they not returned to her ancestral home. Their one and only chance of stopping the monster lay with her brother. She remembered sending out the call to him from their home using the alarm system she had set up with her brother for just such emergencies. That had been when they were younger and she wished she had kept the design when she moved out to begin her modeling career. She had watched as Tom Lennox had finally fallen to the assassin, tossed away as if he were the rag doll of a bored and spoiled child.

While dressed as Captain Britain she knew she would possess greater strength than she would otherwise possess. That had been the second reason for returning to the manor, to get the costume. When she put it on, the technology in the suit remolded itself around her as if it had been specifically designed for her. She charged out at the Assassin knowing she was facing a well-skilled opponent, but she had no choice, he was about to kill Tom. She fought as hard as she could against the creature but strength alone wasn't working. That was when the creature finally grabbed onto her and she felt his thumb destroying her eyes.

"Miss, are you feeling yourself again?"

"I've made a Dog's breakfast out of this haven't I?" Betsy took a deep breath and concentrated on where her eyes used to be. For a brief moment, she could see again, but everything looked like it had been filtered through purple glass. It was a brief moment and she wondered what she had done. She could feel the heat from her psychic energy lingering in her eye sockets but once more the world was darkness again. She shifted her concentration to the family butler again focusing on Hamilton again. She could see again now although it was strange to see herself sitting on the bed from the Butler's eyes.

Looking through another person's eyes was very unnerving. It wasn't like looking at one of the many photographs that had been taken of her over her time as a model. She could see the cloth wrapped around her head, her long curly brown hair still in amazing form after the fight she had been in draped around her shoulders hiding some of her scars. The scars she knew would fade, but it was curious that there was a faint purple glow seeping from the cuts and injuries that covered her shoulders and arms, it was as if her powers were trying to heal her from within.

Then there came a very alien and strange feeling that seeped through her body pulsing and radiating from her core. What she felt was attraction. She was looking at the way her tongue ever so slightly broke from her lips and returned the slight movement of her chest as she breathed. Her own body was reacting to this as well spiraling the emotions out of control. She shouldn't be having these feelings but she wanted to reach out and touch herself and run her hands through her own hair and across her arms.

It took her a moment to realize she was not only seeing through the Butler's eyes but also tapping into his thoughts.

"I'm a bit zonked, could you thank my brother for saving the situation we buggered up."

"Miss, your brother is still on Holiday. He hasn't gotten back yet."

"But, who saved me. I'm positive Brian was there."

"We don't know miss. Whoever it was glowed purple and it was difficult to identify him. We think he is like those mutants back in the states, but he gave that thug a right pounding. He made short work of him too. A few hits and your attacker went down. He hit him with the bust of Master Braddock and Bob's your uncle. Would you care for something to eat Miss? Perhaps you would care for some tea and a jammy dodger or two?"

"No thank you." Her vision once more returned to darkness as the Butler left. That was the first time she had accessed someone's emotions and thoughts so easily. It disturbed her at how much their thoughts had and affect on her own. She would have to find a way to access other people's sight without accessing their minds which might prove difficult. Her only other option was to refine what she managed to pull off even for a few seconds. She could see and she wondered about what the Butler had said. She was certain her brother had been there, she saw the world through his eyes, but then she realized something. What she saw was all purple as if filtered through glass much like what happened earlier.

What if her brother hadn't been there? What if the being that saved her was nothing more than a concentration of her psychic energy? Avril Davis had suggested that something was possible before the Psi Division had been attacked and the two were going to work on figuring out ways to make such a thing happen. Betsy wondered if all of that planning had triggered an alteration of her powers to cause it to happen sooner rather than later. What if the desperation of the fight had done this.

She concentrated on her lost eyes again focusing all her effort and her mind into forming two circles of energy perfectly matching what her eyes had looked like. When she opened her eyes she could see once more and it felt a little more stable. The world was once more tinted purple but she could see. As she looked at her hands she wondered what else she could use this concentration of psychic energy for. If she could create a person out of the energy as well as eyes maybe she could create tools as well.

Betsy focused her energy again this time remembering a painting she had bought recently of Caliburn, the sword in the stone. She watched as energy began swirling around her hands slowly forming into a much larger sword. She wasn't really knowledgeable on sword types but she thought it looked like something her brother called a longsword. It had taken so long to form and she could feel herself struggling with it. It was the same feeling she had before when she was fighting Slaymaster and she wondered if she had so much more energy then since she was fighting for her life. The sword was heavy even if it was made of energy so it wouldn't be very practical if she had to defend herself.

It was then she membered a little more about the Arthurian legend. Excalibur likewise would be too large as would Clarent or Rhongomiant, Arthur's spear. What she could create was something that looked like Carnwennan, Arthur's dagger. The sword she created became much lighter as it shrank to the size of a dagger with a light mist of psychic energy drifting from the dagger even as it completed the transformation. The mist of psychic energy continued to pour from the dagger as she held on to it, the mist swirling around her faintly.

"Now that is a sharp weapon, Betsy." She hadn't heard the person energy and instantly the dagger shifted forming a shield around her arm for a brief moment before she remembered the voice. It was her best friend Alison Blaire and then her shield vanished. She could feel her friends arms around her and she hugged back.

"I'm so sorry Betsy. I wish I had been there for you." Alison had meant what she said. Betsy knew about her friend losing her mother at a young age. Losing being generous for being abandoned and left with her very domineering father. It had taken Betsy to finally convince her friend to just leave her father behind and pursue the career she had always loved, singing. It had been the one thing Alison's mother was talented at and the very thing that had driven their parents apart just as it caused such an enormous rift between Alison and her father.

The two girls had known about each other's powers for some time now. While they weren't certain where Betsy's powers came from they still took it as a sign that the two were meant to be friends. She had seen Alison create objects out of light before and that had been part of the reason she had brought her research idea before. Of using their psychic energy much in the way she knew that Alison could create a chair out of hard light, as her friend called it.

"I missed your concert. I'm so sorry."

She heard Alison give a deep sigh. "Leave it to you to worry about missing something so unimportant while you've been attacked. You could have died." She felt Alison hugging her tighter and wondered if she would need a crowbar to detach her friend for a moment before giving in to the embrace. She felt the stress of the last few days bleed out of her as Alison simply held her friend. Betsy could feel the emotions of love from Alison, love of her friend radiating outward and enveloping her.

There was something else in that as well, attraction. It wasn't for her, but Alison was attracted to someone and it was an overpowering emotion.

"I almost forgot. I saw him again. Dr. Strange and it turns out he is like us, I think. It is very confusing."

A mutant? She focused her psychic energy expanding it around her and quickly found the person that Alison was talking about. A tall handsome man stood in Brian's office along with two women. Mystic energy seemed to flow out of the two women and she knew one of them. The tall dark-haired woman was Roma, the daughter of Merlyn. Merlyn had sent her brother off on a vision quest according to the ancient mage. He was expected to find something of importance but neither the mage nor her brother would tell her what the two were conspiring over.

She didn't recognize the woman beside Roma but she knew instantly she wasn't human. The amount of mystic energy surrounding her was staggering even more than Roma's energy. Compared to the two women Dr. Stephen Strange was a spotlight to their candles.

"I think he's surrounded by magic, like my brother's friends."

"That is what they said as well but isn't magic like... you know... hand slights or deception. It doesn't exist, right?

"It's real and what's more. I have the impression that those three are going to drag us in on their shenanigans."

"What? No.. you can't you are still injured." Alison's overprotective nature was kicking in full force now and she felt her friend's hug tightening.

Somehow Betsy managed to wiggle out of the hug, still holding her friend's hand knowing Alison would need the contact as much as she did. "I'm hurt, but it's too dangerous for me to stay here. An enemy is attempting to hunt Tom and me down. Tom can easily go into hiding, but I can't. If I stay here everyone will be in danger and while I think where they are going is dangerous as well, at least everyone here would be safe."

She watched as Alison's face as her friend kept trying to think of ways to convince Betsy to do something else but each time it ended with a frustrated look. "Fine, but I'm going to. Some strange man attacked me in my dressing room and I still don't know how we managed to drive him off but I'm sure he'll be back."

"May I?" Betsy reached brushed some of her friend's hair behind her ears waiting for her friend's consent. When Alison nodded Betsy placed her hand fully on the side of her friend's head looking deep into her memories.

She could see the attack now. The man was hiding inside the mirror itself somehow and the look chilled her to the bone. He wasn't human at all but a creature of the otherworld, a nightmare in the shape of a human. "He is the Black King, the Son of Mephisto... the Blackheart." Even as Betsy spoke the name of the creature that had targeted them she felt a chill in the air. She remembered hearing her brother and Merlyn speak about the creature when they didn't realize she could overhear them. He was a monster of unspeakable power and she wondered If they would be able to hold him off a second time. "Alison, please bring them in here, we need to talk."


	7. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 6

It immediately struck Clea just how warm and inviting Braddock Manor was. A far cry from the home she lived in in the Dark Dimension. While it was a bit formal it still had a very cozy feel to it. The servants also seemed to love their job and she had to suppose it came from the fact they weren't forced into it against their will, it was a choice. She could tell the manor was an old one that had been adapted over an extended period of time. Across the walls were faint markings in old English, impossible to see without the gift. Roma escorted both Stephen and herself through the manor and she wondered when the shoe would drop. Merlyn's daughter knew who she was and it was only a matter of time before that got out.

As she followed Roma into Lady Elizabeth Braddock's room she noted that among them were two who could not use magic users, Alison and Stephen's friend. She could still see remnants of magic around them. Echoes of magic users who played a role in their lives surrounded them and she wondered if the others could see this. She could see Alison's mother in her features. Both had a gift for music, but Katherine's daughter had an extra gift, she was a light in the storm, or that is how the oracles of Clea's home dimension described the mutant.

There were a lot more of those. People changed by the Celestials and their unending need to adapt creatures for some obscure plan. Wherever they visited they adapted the dominate species leaving behind seeds of greatness or disaster. Those seeds would in times of great stress cause changes, spectacular ones often, mutations as described by so many people on earth. So far as the humans were aware the powers were completely random either a curse or a blessing. The thing was Clea knew this was not the case. The mutations were anything but random.

The Celestials were often much like the mages of the Dark Dimension. What appeared to be chaos to the outside viewer was, in fact, a very elaborate plan. Each mutation was hidden within the DNA of the individual and thus based on the individual itself. Their powers determined not just by the environment but the temperament of the person involved. This is why Aliso Blaire, a woman destined to be in the spotlight gained the ability to convert vibrations, into both visible and invisible light.

More such mutants were destined to begin appearing, along with two groups of humans altered by the celestials back in the time of Merlyn's birth. The Deviants and Eternals had long ago gone underground, although they too still had an impact on the world. That was one of the major reasons why her uncle was so interested in the world. It wasn't just a matter of more territory for Dormammu, he could take a number of dimensions including the home of Blackheart, the creature who attempted to attack Alison earlier. Well, attack was a strong word as he sought to capture Alison for her abilities, for Mephisto's approval.

"I suppose I should begin this with what I saw and what has happened to me." Lady Braddock took a deep breath and Clea watched as Alison held her friend's hand in support. "S.T.R.I.K.E., our version of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been taken over by a criminal named Vixen, so any support you were expecting will unfortunately not be available." Betsy turned to Stephen and Clea could see the woman's eyes glowing with a combination of magic and another type of energy.

Clea noted several lines of such energy all over the woman from the injuries she recently received at the hands of an assassin. It wasn't the most efficient healing spell but it was working.

"They took my friends from me... my eyes."

"Perhaps we should wait to do this later after you have recovered a bit." The woman named Linda Carter spoke up, trained as a nurse. She remembered nurses were something closer to a healer of her world but with limited techniques available to them.

"No. we don't have that luxury. I can still see after a fashion. Magic runs strong In my family and while my brother is much stronger than I am in it, I still possess enough to use it along with my other gift. I am a mutant."

Clea watched as Alison whispered something to her friend. She didn't have to hear to know she was cautioning Lady Braddock given the number of unknowns in the room.

"Ask Roma, she will tell you we are all here for a reason. Call it fate or providence or even luck of the draw. We need each other. I can help smooth over your trip through Wales to Sir Clive's Island. We were getting word of something strange going there before the Psi Division was attacked. I don't think that was a coincidence. That man in Alison's changing room is known as Blackheart. So somehow Mephisto is involved in this as well, but who he is after, I just do not know."

"He is after her." Clea wondered if it was a good idea to speak out. They didn't really know her, but she felt the need to share the information anyway. She pointed towards Alison who flinched a bit. "He is a being of darkness and you... of light. Of course, he would be drawn to you. IF his father is involved as well, is a possibility given my uncle's interest in all of this."

"Who is your uncle?" Alison spoke up as she received a reassuring squeeze to her hand by Elizabeth.

"Dormammu, my uncle is the dreaded Dormammu and one of Mephisto's major rivals." Clea glanced towards Roma before looking at the ground. Roma knew who she was as Merlyn was also a major rival of the two as well, but the information would only really have any meaning for Dr. Strange and Roma herself. She fully expected Stephen Strange to hate her for this revelation. She expected to look up and see the rage across his face and she felt she deserved every inch of hatred. When she looked up she saw something different.

Dr. Stephen strange wasn't sure what he had expected from Clea, but the revelation was stunning. Clea was Dormammu's niece? How as this possible. Dormammu was described to strange as an interdimensional being made of pure magic, but Clea was flesh and blood in front of him. It was then he remembered that when Agamotto first met him he too was flesh and blood, but at some point, he had returned to his energy form.

Time froze as the eye of Agamotto opened pulling Dr. Strange's astral form into the realm that lay just beneath the surface of the metal amulet. In that misty world, Stephen saw several people forming from the energy that surrounded him. He could see a tiny baby resting in a cradle, her tiny hands grasping at motes of light flying around her, the sounds of her giggles filled the air. As he looked closer he could see the beings of light as very small fairies like those from the books he used to read as a child. There was a tall woman standing beside a shorter man with no hair both looking over the child, with distant looks on their faces. He watched as the woman, her mother walked away even while the baby Clea cried for her.

Umar, the Dreaded Dormammu's sister. He watched as the woman walked up to a being made of rippling reddish energy. It had a humanoid form, but his skin rippled much in the way of a pond after a stone is thrown in it. This was Dormammu, the being that his master the Ancient one, as well as many other Sorcerer Supremes, had faced over the ages going back to the original, Agamotto. Umar vanished completely from view now and he knew she had not been seen ever since the time of Agamotto. The image changed again and now Clea was a toddler barely learning how to walk and get around on her own. Even now her father still remained distant to him, and completely loyal to Dormammu.

He saw a young lonely child who tried to make her way in the world, tried to gain the attention and love of her father but failed every time. Animals of the Dark dimension would gather around her as she grew, her hair pale compared to her mother's midnight black hair.

He watched as the scene changed again from the Dark Dimension to a tiny room he immediately recognized. He was in Nebraska again not that many days after his parents returned from Philadelphia where he had been born. He watched as his younger self lay in the crib looking around until a shadow fell on the crib. At the side of the crib stood a younger version of Baron Mordo barely 20 years old but the sneer was there, the one he used as he looked down on everyone around him. He watched as the Baron reached into the crib only to pull back his hand in pain as a barrier surrounding the crib sent jolts of pain down his arm.

An older Clea stepped next to Baron Mordo her hand on the crib as she looked down on baby Stephen. The eye was showing him two separate times as Clea wove a protective shell around Stephen to protect him. The Baron tested this shield several times before placing a curse just outside the shield, to target Stephen. Around the crib images of creatures, he swore he saw in his nightmares as he grew up began appearing, each blocked or outright destroyed by Clea as she continued to protect him when he could not protect himself. All of this lead up to the moment day he lost his sister when her father dragged her back to the Dark Dimension, punishing her for daring to escape and help a human.

The anger that was starting to build melted away and then the eye of Agamotto released him to the physical world again, the flow of time returning to normal. He looked down to see Linda's hand on top of his.

He knew that she expected him to see the niece of Dormammu, but he kept seeing his sister's friend and remembered how happy he had seen them in that vision he had before leaving on this adventure. "It must have taken a lot of courage to escape here again."

"About that. I have no idea how I made it back here. I found a mirror in my mother's home and I saw the concert you were at. I just remember wishing so hard that I could be there, and then I was here on Earth again."

"If Dormammu wishes to invade Earth and has tried to do so on many occasions then why hasn't he when this Clea person can?" It was the first time Roma spoke up and it was clear she wasn't all that happy about being in the same room with someone so close to the enemy.

"My Uncle is Faltine, a being made up of magic energy. For a time he took on a physical form which is how he traveled to the Dark Dimension when he and my mother were exiled for killing my grandfather. Since I am only half Faltine then I have a physical form making traveling much easier. My Uncle can only enter this world at very specific points."

"This is why he was after Sir Bentley's island. That is one of the entry points, not to the Dark Dimension but to Avalon. It is complicated but the Island is part of Avalon itself, a smaller part but a very important link to this world. There are others such as the one that, Brain Braddock, used in London. My father, Merlyn is keeping it open. That is why he is unable to help you and why I am going in his place."

"Roma, is Jack Russell still in Liverpool?" Betsy Braddock had a curious look on her face, "we may need his tracking abilities."

Stephen remembered hearing about Jack Russel before. He was a living legend in the form of a werewolf. Unlike those from the movies who lacked control, Jack could change forms at any time simply by concentrating on the image of a full moon. There was no telling just how large the island would be so this would be a great benefit to them. He knew that Sir Bently's island did not function as the material world around it. It might seem small, even tiny but the island itself was easily several miles in diameter warping space to fit and also link itself to the Earth. He was even told once that the Island itself might even be the entire dimension of Avalon itself but finding out the truth of this was complicated. The island itself possessed sentience and could choose who it would allow entry. That was one of the more concerning parts about this entire siege, it should be impossible but someone managed to force itself onto the island.

"I think this is where your friend will be very useful." Roma turned towards Linda, "Jack is here with his niece and she is far too young to take to the island."

"Babysitting? Well, I have to admit I don't possess any of the abilities the rest of you have. I have worked with some superheroes in New York healing them, but a mystical island might be a bit much for me." Linda approached the bed where Betsy still lay. "Even this type of healing is well fantastic, to put it bluntly."

"And you want me to go along too because of this Blackheart creature? Won't I just complicate things?"

Alison looked so depressed he had to say something, "I think that would be for the best. There is safety in numbers and the creature after you possesses immense power. So we just need to teleport to Liverpool and from there take a boat to the island" He could feel the teleportation energy gathering around him, a mixture of white light shifting then towards green and blue. He could feel the air starting to tear around him and he focused that energy against the far wall of Betsy's bedroom. Nothing happened. A look of surprise spread across Roma's face as she looked towards the wall where he had tried to open a portal.

"Avalon's magic has made things too unstable. That may be why Brian hasn't returned. We need to deal with this as soon as possible and it looks like we'll have to take the long way." Betsy lifted a phone pressing a button to summon some of the staff. They would prepare one of the larger vehicles for their use.

"Looks like you'll need me anyway. I'm the only other person here who can drive in this country. Plus I'm not abandoning my best friend."

It looked like Linda was about to say how insane it was to bring the still injured woman with them. She had only just barely survived losing not just her sight but her eyes and her injuries were still healing. He knew she must feel like Alice in Wonderland, and just when she had finally gotten some time off work.


	8. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 7

Moonlight Chapter 7

The drive to Liverpool was very entertaining as Alison proceeded to sing every song she had memorized from Julie London to Rosemary Clooney all with several Christmas songs in the mix. For Stephen Strange, it was a unique experience and one he had not experienced in some time. He glanced over to Clea who looked equal parts stunned but she clearly loved the singing. He wondered what it must have been like living all those years without any sort of support. Stephen remembered when he let the pain of losing those around him get too much. For the longest time, he thought he was the only one left from his family until he learned what really happened to his sister. It would be a major goal of his to rescue her if he could find out where she was being trapped recently.

She had spoken to some detail about the Dark Dimension and Stephen had learned a few things that until now only Agamotto knew. One of those tidbits was that the structure of the dimension was quite unlike that of Earth. The Dark Dimension stretched out across a single plane, there were no planets to speak of although far above the ground existed smaller floating castles and islands. When Agamotto entered the realm for the last time it had become linked to a degree with Earth and its seasons. During the wintertime in the northern hemisphere, the Dark Dimension would see snow or something like it. As the seasons changed so too would the Dark Dimension.

"Is there a plane tied to the southern hemisphere then?" such a question puzzled Clea requiring Stephen to explain the planets and the movements of the planets.

"It is possible that Dormammu's personal castle is like that, but time is a strange thing in my home dimension. When I was a little girl I would watch the Dinosaurs walk across this land and it looked so different then too."

As they drew closer to Liverpool, Elizabeth Braddock started to become more and more agitated. "He's to the south and there is something else with him as well. Are we near Speke or Hale?"

Alison turned the vehicle onto Ramsbrook lane, "It looks like he's in Hale if where you are pointing is his location. I thought he was in Liverpool?"

"Something obviously has come up." Stephen was about to comment on the energy he could see radiating ahead when Clea spoke up.

"There is a creature of the night and of blood there, feeding. Exiled I think. Stephen, we need to stop it." Without thinking Clear reached for Stephen's hands holding them and doing everything she could to emphasize the importance of the detour.

"While you deal with this I will see to our transportation to Avalon." Stephen was shocked to see Roma phase through the vehicle they were in turning transparent as the van passed through her.

"I have a friend from work who lives in Hale that might spare us a room. I won't be able to hide my injuries so I'll introduce you as my Doctor and his assistant. Thankfully she already knows Alison. They might try to wangle a performance or two out of you Ali."

As Alison drove through Hale Stephen could feel the tension in the air as a number of people ducked out of sight upon seeing a new vehicle moving along the streets. It reminded him of a horror movie in a way to see them retreat.

As they approached the Bloodstone Maner the air seemed to become a bit lighter and Stephen could see some auras radiating from the house, but not strong enough to cover the entire town. Someone in there was attempting to protect the people but with limited resources. The people of the town wouldn't notice the wards but to a degree, it would help protect them if they didn't leave their homes after sundown.

Alison parked mostly out of view of the road and then helped Elizabeth navigate the walk to the front door. She was still struggling with the loss of her sight and couldn't use her abilities to see all the time. It was a miracle she could use her psi powers to see at all, he wasn't sure how the abilities worked only that they were similar to a degree to the magic he used but also very different. Elizabeth's Psi powers were powered by an internal source, her own energy whereas Stephen's powers were all external in nature. She had slightly better access to her power but at the risk of wearing herself out if she were to try to use it for a few hours much less most of the day.

The door opened and instead of seeing their friend, a tall man with a thick beard greeted them. The man reminded Stephen of a wolf ready to leap at any moment and eyeing each of them to see which one would be the greater danger.

"Is Elsa in, Jack?"

There was a quick look of surprise on the man's face which Stephen almost missed it. He did miss the little girl standing close behind the man who turned to her giving an unspoken signal. She then ran off likely to find Elsa.

"Chaos brought you here too didn't it? And with guests." Stephen watched as Jack looked them over. "No magic on that one but I smell the magic on you two. One of you smells like Tibet and the Ancient One. You I don't know." Jack let out a low growl as he looked at Clea "I smell dark magic on you. Like the magic Baron Mordo used traipsing through here like he owned the place."

Without even thinking Stephen placed himself in front of Clea, an instinct to protect taking over.

"So the Ancient One's pet is taking up for you? I guess that is a good enough reference, for now." given a breather, it took Stephen a moment to place his accent, Transylvania. Of course, he would know about Baron Mordo, they were both from the same area.

A Bostonian accent drifted from down the hall before a tall woman with fire engine red hair stepped into view. She looked like she was carved from a mountain and could easily break the taller Jack over her knee if she wished. "Now is not the time for a Holliday princess." The woman paused as she looked to her friend and then suddenly the atmosphere changed and she rushed forward enveloping Elizabeth in a bear hug. "What happened to you?" Elsa studied Elizabeth's eyes for a moment. "Where are my manners? We can talk about it inside. It isn't safe out here even if it is still daylight."

"I'm sorry to drop in on you like this but we are in a bit of a bind and we need the help of Jack, you too for that matter." The group settled in the sitting room, Stephen began to become aware of another presence around them. One that he detected with the first step he took into the manor.

"The Manor has accepted you two. I don't know why you are surrounded by the magic you are but the Manor is a good judge of character, Still who are you?"

"My name is Clea and I was born close to a million years ago in the Dark Dimension, My Uncle is the dread lord Dormammu" Clea paused looking at the ground and Stephen prepared himself to defend her again just in case.

Elsa looked back and forth between Stephen and the girl who still looked like she was no more than 18 years old. "And Bloodstone Manor still accepted you? You can rest easy Mr. knight if the Manor will accept her so will I."

"It's Doctor actually."

Elsa actually rolled her eyes, "Alright Dr. Knight."

Stephen looked towards Clea who was raising her head again haven been somewhat surprised by the reaction as well. She just looked at him and stated, "If I didn't tell her how much worse would it be?"

"Child you need to learn to be a lot more discreet." Elsa reached up in time to grab a floating cup of tea from the sky. As he shifted his vision he could see the ghostly servants moving around the Manor in a very intricate dance.

Nina Price, the little girl from earlier had found a friend in the woman named Linda Carter. She smelled of happy things according to Nina's young mind, and more she could smell a cat on the lady. She wondered why she was drawn to the lady over all the others. The nine-year-old stuck by the woman after the group had descended to adult talk which seemed really boring. She noticed they weren't including the Linda in a lot of the conversation which seemed to be about magic so she took it upon herself to keep her entertained.

In the middle of describing her old home in Hollywood, it suddenly struck Nina why the lady felt so familiar to her. She smelled just like her momma. At that moment the little girl was of two minds. The Nine-year-old who remembered her mother and when she lost both her parents. The little girl who remembered moving in with her uncle Jack, and trying to keep out of the way until she found out about the family curse. The other part of her, the little girl who missed her mother won out. The little girl who kept thinking over and over again "She smells like momma… I want my momma."

Linda Carter was shocked at how abrupt the crying had started. One moment the little girl was happily telling her about Hollywood and the next, the waterworks had started. Nina might remind her of a little puppy but at the moment she was clinging like her life depended on it. Jack moved to try to detach his niece from her but he found no such luck there and after a moment he turned to Elsa. "You can handle this. I've got to look after my niece. Looks like I'll have to borrow your nurse doctor. Nina seems rather fond of her and I know why."

She allowed Jack to lead her out of the room and towards the kitchens having little choice in the matter as Nina continued to cling to her. She carried the greatly distressed child and part of her suddenly knew a longing that she hadn't known was there. Every part of her wanted to comfort and protect the child who wasn't her own, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was the little girl needed her and in truth, Linda also needed the child.

In a way, she could understand part of what the girl was feeling. She had lost her mother at a young age as well. She went to live with her grandmother after that loss and even now she still felt it. When she moved back in with her father after she remarried it had taken some time to get over the guilt she felt and to really get to know her step-mother. She felt like she had betrayed her own mother by accepting the other woman. Even as she wanted someone to be there for her, the guilt still kept eating away at her. She had to let the little girl know that she didn't have to feel guilty, that there was no need for that.

She remembered one of the first things she did with her step-mother, baking. She just needed to get the child distracted and enjoying herself again and to remember that her mother was still with her. She found herself braiding the young girl's long blonde hair remembering how her step-mother had done that for her and she began to wonder about her own thoughts. At the same time, she began to become more aware of the fact that Jack was watching her. A cozy feeling began to build up in her as she began to get the kitchen prepared for baking sugar cookies for the holidays. Nina was completely distracted by the prospect of making Christmas treats and after a moment of pleading her 'Uncle Jack' gave in.

As the three began putting the ingredients together it had felt so much like the first Christmas she spent with her step-mother. As they worked she found herself looking more and more at Jack and feeling he had the right fit.

"I really do want to help you but neither of us can move at the moment. It isn't just a case of the chaos here, and magic going just a bit wild but we have a vampire. Likely drawn to this place. It's Baron Blood, Lord John Falsworth as he was known in life, before a certain trip to Romania and Transylvania. This was around the time of World War I, known then as the Great War. He used to fight mystery men from that time as well, Freedom Five as they were called over here. He is here and I don't know what he is after but he has kept us pinned in my father's Manor. Either the Baron himself or one of his thralls. You might have noticed them when you drove in or not they seemed to have decided to let you into the net for whatever reason. Until we stop the Baron and kill him, again, I think we'll be stuck here."

Stephen had heard about the exploits of Baron Blood and the Freedom Five. It was rumored that the Baron was turned by Dracula himself but that was impossible right? Dracula was just a story. Of course given all the mystical things he had seen in the last few years then Dracula might actually exist.

"So… Dracula?"

"He's still dead as far as I know." Elsa interrupted. "I don't know how long he will remain like this and the longer Avalon is in danger the more likely some of the magic will resurrect him yet again as it has already appeared to have done to Baron Blood."

"The last time Lady Falsworth and that bloke from the states in your flag killed him. He was after Lady Falsworth's daughter I believe for some strange ritual. He should have remembered she was given the code name Spitfire for a reason."

He could feel a shift in the temperature as something in the house was communicating with him, or attempting to. It couldn't be described as a language but more of a feeling and from the looks of the others in the room they had received the same message. Stephen rushed to the closest window looking out towards the street and he could see a man standing in the middle of the road, the fading sun off in the distance behind him. He wore a strange purple tight-fitting suit with wings stretching from his very much clawed hands all the way to his ankles. On his head, there was a cowl with elongated bat-like ears flaring out all of which in shades of purple. The only flesh he could see was the lower part of his mask barely hiding the distorted grin of a vampire. It was then he noticed the vampire's eyes were darker than they should be, like two embers of a dying fire.

The Vampire was starving and this was, in turn, pushing Baron Blood into madness. There were plenty of potential victims in the town but for some reason, the Vampire couldn't or wouldn't feed on them. "I think the time of that siege you were referring to is over. Something has changed and it could only be one of us."

"It can't be. You are all covered in magic. It flows out of all of you if he tried to feed on you as he has tried with all the people of this town he would die." Elsa paused as she turned towards where the Kitchen was and where Linda Carter was likely still with Jack and his Niece. "Except her, she has no magic at all in her and if the Baron gets hold of her he can escape the trap I've built."

Stephen grabbed hold of Elsa's shoulders, "What trap. I need to know if I am to help you with this."

It looked like for a moment Elsa was going to knock the doctor out before she regained her control. I wasn't expecting a visit like this. Jack and I bound Baron Blood here where we both knew he wouldn't find any victims to feed off of. Everyone in this town has magic to some degree. It isn't strong like yours or Clea's but the magic is still there and it provides protection against vampires and creatures like them. I should have said something sooner but this visit shocked me as much as what is going on in Avalon. Still, It was the right thing to do… but now we have to face a frenzied Vampire far sooner than I would have liked. If we only had a few more days he would have been much weaker."

Stephen gathered up the magic power around him and released the spell concealing his cloak of levitation even as it began to unfurl from the coat he was wearing and spreading out behind him. He strode to the door with Elsa, Clea, and Alison following close behind. "Alison whatever you do, do not look directly into his eyes."

As the doctor stepped out the front door he could feel the pressure of magic power wash over him and he did his best to shield his allies as they formed around him. The Vampire screeched out and there was a great flapping of wings in the air, the four looked up to see a dragon covered in black scales, lines of red magic flared out from its deadly gaze.

"A Dragon… When did he get a Dragon?"


	9. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 8

An unearthly roar echoed through the town as Bonynth, the Dark one surveyed the building his new master instructed him to capture. It had seemed like a simple task, nothing as difficult as the castles he faced in the time of Arthur Pendragon. That is until he noticed the eye of the old ones hanging from a cord around the neck of one of the humans. His people the Makluans once faced that eye before in the hands of Agamotto, the ancient one. It was a powerful device even in the hands of a mortal, although that too would change over time if they held onto the artifact long enough.

Bonynth's eyes shifted and he scanned the house again. On the other side of the house stood three individuals that were attempting to cook something until they heard his roar. Two of them were cursed and the scent in the air told the Dragon it was werewolves, although one of them was too young for the curse to be active. The last of the people in the kitchen was to the dragon's senses completely normal. She must be the target that Baron Falsworth was after.

Inside he could see a blind girl, or not so blind as the woman in question was looking right at him despite being so well hidden in the building. He could feel a tickle of her psychic fingers on his brain and knew she would be a danger to him. The situation was rapidly becoming worse.

At his feet, several living stone statues marched around him towards the targets and the dragon could feel them bleeding some of his magic to fuel not just their movement but their very lives. The two women with the magician quickly took up positions beside the mage. Whenever he tried to look at one of them a blinding light flared up preventing him from seeing anything. He wasn't sure what the light was but knew it wasn't her magic, in fact, he could sense no magic in her at all. He was about to suggest the baron attack that glowing woman but knew the vampire couldn't see the light in the woman, but then the other one distracted him.

He thought she was human at first, with pure white hair on a very youthful face that seemed out of place. Her eyes spoke of that of a much older being. It wasn't until he sensed the dark dimension in her that the dragon truly panicked. He wanted out of the area and fast but the chains his master had placed on him held him in place until the death or success of his vampire Ally, the Baron. Several ways to attack the baron directly flashed out of his mind, it would have been a death sentence. He was trapped neatly and squarely facing someone tied to the dreaded Dormammu, his daughter perhaps? All the dragon knew was that she seemed trapped in human form. Vast magic energies crackled around her as she threw a bolt of purplish lightning against one of the golems.

The golem did not even have a chance to think of dodging the bolt, not even if it could have done so. The bolt blew chunks of stone from the golem as it embedded deep into the statue's body. Faint purple energy started as a faint spark deep within the hole created by the bolt and it only spread further still under the surface of the living statue. The eyes of the Golem took on a purplish hue as the statue arched back into a feral silent scream and then it exploded.

Stephen pulled Alison along rushing both her and Clea behind his cloak of levitation trying his best to shield them from the raining fragments of the flying golem. He wasn't sure where Elsa had disappeared to but likely she was attempting to sneak her way to a place where she could take down the vampire. Something she seemed distinctly trained for, given the faint hint of garlic he had detected on her earlier. He knew in this situation it would be increasingly difficult to defeat the vampire given their options. It was then he remembered something, the vampire was seeking someone without magic. There was another person who lacked magic but had just the right kind of power to take out a vampire.

'Congratulations Stephen Strange.' It took him a moment to realize Betsy was speaking to him directly to his mind. 'But I do not think he will go for her with you there, not after attempting to go after Linda. I do not think the dragon has warned the little fool what he will be facing there.'

Stephen casted a dimension spell onto the back of his cloak, the hint of a clear sword that at first glanced appeared to be made completely out of diamond slowly slide out of the rip in space and done. "Alison, take this sword and watch over the door. If any of those golem get past us then use it." She gave him a questioning look and he knew she had stronger powers but she reluctantly taking hold of the crystal sword. As she touched the sword a faint glow raced up the blade of the sword taking on various shades along the way turning itself into nothing short of a miniature rainbow in her hands.

He knew she might not recognize the true intent of the sword, it was to mask her mutant ability in a cloak of light.

"Clea, keep doing what you are doing and I will handle the dragon." With that, he detached the claps of his cloak instructing it to shield Clea. He barely had time to release several bursts of magic energy at the dragon before he was dodging the beast's claws attempting to do what he could to pull the creature's attention away from the house. He could follow the beast's eyes and knew at once the creature was looking at the eye of Agamotto with what he suspected was either fear or at least respect for the magic necklace. Even with the Eye, this would be a very difficult fight.

Stephen casted a minor flight spell on his feet using the momentum he had gained to leap towards the roof of the garage attached to the manor. The dragon once more attempted to claw him but missed showering the area with sparks as his claws raked a magic shield covering the house as if it were painted on. He glanced into the town noticing just how quiet the residents remained despite the battle raging on their doorsteps when he noticed the trails of a sleep spell floating on the wind and it seemed to have Baron Mordo's signature on it.

Elsa Bloodstone was thankful for Clea's initial attack. It had neatly drawn every eye to the tiny blond girl and away from her. She wasn't used to other people taking the spotlight from her given her hair which was a gift of her father. Over the years his use of the Bloodstone had altered him and thus she was blessed with hair so red that nobody believed she didn't dye it. Still, she was able to get out of the view of the dragon which was nothing short of a miracle. She wondered how that vampire had gotten control over one. Then again there might be another out there since she detected a sleep spell that seemed concentrated in the middle of Hale. She could see a ball of energy off in the distance over St Mary's Church and assumed the other one was over the village hall. The two balls of magic energy would be more than enough to put the entire population to sleep, which was just as well they would only be in danger otherwise. Still, the vampire would not have casted that spell and it didn't have the traces of energy she saw around Stephen Strange.

She quickly found the vampire moving quickly across the lawn doing his best to dodge the numerous vampire traps she had placed. She almost had the perfect strike on him, her wooden stake aimed directly at his heart. Inches from the blow striking she felt something sticky strike her face barely had enough time to remove it before the acids seared her skin. Elsa quickly grabbed for her flask of holy water splashing it onto her eyes and wondered for a moment what she had been hit by until she realized she was facing a blob-like creature. Her eyes were blurred from the blobs acidic skin but she could see it forming into a humanoid form as it ingested grass and plants around it converting to increase its size.

The greenish glowing creature stood her height now as she wiped her eyes again using the last of her holy water in an attempt to purge the acid. It completely copied her all the way down to small details in her hunting garb. As she stood down the creature it continued to refine its body becoming more and more detailed and while it remained an almost glowing moss green it was detailed enough to fool an expert on shape alone. She only had moments to dodge to the side as the blob creature pulled a section of its body apart forming it into a stake which it threw at her missing by inches, but she could still feel tiny drops of acid against her skin and armor.

The Blob made no sound but she could watch as its mouth moved and reading the lips only made it worse, 'Time to die'.

For Baron Blood, this entire adventure had been going from bad to worse for some time now. It was bad enough that he was back from the dead only to be caught up in some strange magic energy so far from home but he had also been trapped at that Bloodstone estate by Ulysses' daughter. He was starving and worse he knew that such a condition would not kill him only turn his life or rather unlife into a living hell until he was able to feed again.

As he approached the rear entrance to the Manor he could sense three beings in the kitchen. Two of them cursed and thus he could not feed on them but the third one without the taint of magic that kept him from feeding and finally releasing himself from his current torment.

It was an insult to Sir John Falsworth to be reduced to this state. There was the indignity of having to get past two dogs, or rather a wolf and its pup to get to his meal. The Wolf was looking out the kitchen window while the pup glanced nervously down the hallway towards the front of the manor. He thought his scent hadn't been detected but one moment he was plotting how he would take down the wolf and the next a howl cut through the night and he only had seconds to react before claws were reaching for his face and neck through a shattered window. Glass flew about and damaging the wings of his suit. The Baron knew he had one chance and gave in to his hunger. Falsworth felt his claws elongate, eldritch magic releasing from the very pores of his skin. He had one last moment of pure thought before the beast in him lashed out at the werewolf in front of him and the last thing his conscious mind could hear was the sound of a little girl screaming for her uncle.

Linda Carter knew she had to get the child away from the fight but it proved a bit more difficult than she imagined. She picked up Nina and retreated while the child kicked at her trying to get back to her uncle. After a moment the child calmed down and then Linda could hear Betsy in her mind. 'sorry that took so long, come back to the sitting room. You and the Child will be safe here. I hope.'

She did her best to sooth the fears of Nina as she carried the child to where Betsy was sitting. As she moved closer to the front of the house she could hear explosions and the sound of the house being showered by stone and rock. Out the window, she could see Clea using magic against stone-like creatures she could vaguely remember being called Golems. She couldn't see Alison but she could see light shining from the corner of the window and guessed she was guarding the front door.

As soon as she entered into the room Nina scrambled out of her arms and quickly scurried into a hiding spot.

"How bad is it?"

"It could be going better. Stephen is fighting a Dragon and Clea is facing those things. Is jack?"

"He's fighting that vampire that Elsa told us about. You know when I thought I wanted a vacation from work this isn't exactly what I had in mind." Linda looked over to where Nina was hiding. She wanted to go to the child and soothe her but her instincts told her that at least she was hidden and hopefully safe.

"I don't know why Jack rushed out of the house. A vampire cannot enter it unless invited."

"Jack would know something like this right?" Linda watched as Betsy nodded her head. "So what if he had been invited into the house before, it is Sir John Falsworth after all, surely he had been invited by Elsa's father."

Linda turned towards the door to the sitting room as she heard heavy feet reach it, "Jack…" She stopped as a bloody hand slowly came into view from the door and it was not covered in fur.

Baron wondered if he would get all of his clawed parts back into his own body by the time he reached the room. Already his healing factor granted by his vampirism was working, reattaching undead flesh back together from the deep claw marks given to him by Jack Russell. The werewolf was in much worse shape and it would take some time for him to extract the silver that Baron had jammed into his guts.

"Jack?"

"No… No Jack" he stepped into the room to see two women. One of them blind missing her eyeballs completely and he could see what looked like an image of a butterfly over her face all in purple. The Scent of magic filled the room making him want to vomit.

The other woman charged at him with what looked like a fire poker which John easily caught. A spike of pain fried his mind and the butterfly over the blind woman's face flared, Psychic energy. It wasn't magic but then again she had the stench of Merlyn on her. He yanked the poker from dark-haired woman dropping it to the floor before he dragged her along with him as he marched towards the blind woman striking her in the head and into unconsciousness.

He could see the fear in the Dark haired woman's eyes but that wasn't his problem. He would feed on her and leave this cursed place. As his fangs slowly neared her neck he felt a sharp jack of pain on his ankle and looked down to see the little pup and she had grabbed the poker from earlier.

Sir John Falsworth who always saw him as the peak hunter never saw the poker rapidly advancing to his jaw until it was too late. The little girl found enough strength to shove the poker through his jaw and deep into his skull causing him to stagger backwards and out of the door of the sitting room and into the hall. As she somehow managed to work the poker out of his skull, each inch feeling the pain of the iron in the weapon he watched in horror as the dark-haired woman closed the door and then a lock behind it clasp.

He was surrounded by blood now. The base of his strength and power and he knew he only had moments before the werewolf put himself back together and then that would be it. He had put himself into a corner with little escape. It was then he saw a beautiful blond girl standing at the door, her back to him with a glowing sword in her hands. He saw his meal as he sensed there was no magic in her. Perhaps she had been too close to the other mages earlier and that cloaked her. Using the last of his reserves he snuck up behind the woman and she never saw it coming.

Alison had been concentrating on the Golems ever since the fighting had started and now she had a weapon. A Crystal sword that might amplify her powers if she used it right, but Betsy had instructed her to stay at the door and to just use the sword to keep the golems away. It was amazing to watch Dr. Strange work and hold of the Dragon that had attacked them. It was almost like watching a ballet with magic as he twisted around the Dragon's attacks chipping away at the armor revealing green scales under the black ones.

Watching Clea was almost like watching a fireworks display. It was literally explosive as she tossed bolt after bolt towards a seemingly endless array of golems that marched towards the house. Nothing seemed to stop them nor convince them to retreat. The relentless march was starting to take a toll on her and Alison began to wonder if that was why she had been instructed to wait, so she would have the energy to take Clea's place for a spell.

She was so fixed on the fight she never heard Baron Blood sneak up on her, his skeleton hands drifted over her on clasping the hand she held her sword in and she felt her willpower drain. She could no more hold on to the sword than she could resist the vampire's steely grip. She felt his breath on her neck and knew what would happen next. A short sting of pain as his fangs sank deep into her neck and then finally Alison released her power.

Fear gripped her for a second and then the world was filled with a blinding light and a scream of pain joined her own as Baron Blood howled at the light tearing him apart leaving nothing behind but dust and ash.

Alison looked down at her hands which were still glowing faintly, her hands were covered in her own blood as she tried to cover up the fang marks on her neck. She felt Clea's arms around her holding her up and a warm feeling as the young woman placed her hands on Alison's neck. She found feel healing energy enter her neck and the two jagged holes by the vampire slowly closed. The rest of the yard looked a mess as the army of golems crumbled into smaller rocks and finally into dust drifting off in the breeze.

She could hear the dragon scream again and then fly off and then finally her energy gave out and all she could see then was the back of her own eyes as she drifted off.

Clea watched as Stephen carried the unconscious Alison back into the sitting room where Betsy was just recovering and Linda was holding onto a terrified Nina. After seeing Alison's mutant powers it was easy to forget she didn't have any magic in her either. The vampire had found out the hard way about what it means to attempt to bite someone who could produce pure sunlight. They had been lucky, however. She watched as Elsa helped a very injured Jack into the room and then as Linda and Nina ran towards him to help him to the couch. He was looking pretty rough for ware but nowhere near as bad as Elsa was although she too was healing most of her clothing had been burned off by some strong acid that he could still smell in the air.

While Linda looked over Jack, Clea helped Elsa in her attempt to get upstairs to her room where she could wash off the residue acid and find some more clothing. A part of her wanted to get the woman out of the room before Stephen saw too much and she felt a little guilty about that. Before she left the room she looked back to see Stephen's smiling face and he was looking at her eyes, not Elsa. With that, she helped the Vampire hunter up the stairs.


	10. Moonlight and Magic Chapter 9

Moonlight and Magic Chapter 9

Alison looked exceptionally pale to Clea, the magical energies that turned a normal human into a vampire was still in her system still attempting the conversion, but her powers were too much for it. Every time the magic attempted to take hold of her immune system her body would send a brief pulse of energy through her system halting the process. At first, it reminded so much of the beating of a heart with each pulse a second after the other but now the pulse had slowed and she knew that soon Alison would purge the vampiric magic from her system completely. Mint green light filled the room as another pulse erupted from the sleeping singer. It was the one thing they hadn't counted on, the fact that the magic flowing from Avalon was playing havoc on all magic in the area. As such Baron Blood's vampiric energy didn't completely require him to feed off his prey and then, in turn, feed his blood to them to turn them.

Elsa Bloodstone had checked out Linda but she seemed safe for now. The nurse hadn't gotten blood on her or if she did it wasn't sufficient to alter her, the problem was Nina. The young child was close enough to the vampire that she did absorb his cursed blood. The problem was she already had a curse in her system one passed down from parent to child and that was the curse of the werewolf. Normally such a curse wouldn't activate until she turned 18 as it had with all of Jack Russel's ancestors, as it had happened with Nina's own mother. That rulebook went out the window when Baron Blood's vampiric curse and magic attempted to convert her as it would any normal person. Both curses were, in essence, fighting against each other and it was hurting the poor child terribly. Since then Linda hadn't left the child's side and Jack still blamed himself for not getting Nina out of the area sooner. She wasn't sure how the werewolf could have beaten a dragon. Even with the Eye of Agamotto, Stephen Strange didn't even have a chance as all he could do was distract the dragon keeping it's attention away from his more vulnerable allies.

The color was starting to return to Alison now and each pulse of light a minute or so apart. She was surprised that Alison had not woken up yet. She carefully brushed Alison's hair away from her forehead which felt cool to the touch. Something else was going on and Clea wished she had checked earlier. The truth was not even Elsa had experience with this type of situation. Normally what would have happened is a person infected with the Vampiric curse would pass out and slip into a death-like state where the Vampiric energies would begin converting them into a new vampire state. This was the first time she had heard of anyone outright resisting a vampire curse on their own without the dubious protection of another curse. Even what was happening to Nina was known. Had she been 18 with the full werewolf curse running through her veins, then nothing would change. One curse there gave complete immunity from the other. A Vampire could not change into a Werewolf any more than a Werewolf could change into a Vampire. The problem Nina was having was the fact that neither curses were established so both were vying against each other. This, however, was light energy keeping the Vampiric curse at bay.

That explained why she was using so much of her mutant powers, although it still seemed strange to call it by that. What that did not explain however was why she still slept. Astral travel might provide the answers so Clea began meditating and finally released her astral form from her physical one. As Clea left her physical form she noted the changes in the room as magic writing covered the walls written hundreds of years ago to protect the building and those within it from external forces both magical and mundane. Nothing should be able to get through those walls. When Clea's astral form touched the walls it felt solid and unbending, but what if something had happened before she entered this room.

She wished that Alison had been awake, it would have been more polite to ask permission first but if what she feared was true then it would not be possible. She placed her hand on Alison's forehead again this time concentrating on her eye chakra, also known as the third eye. With just a little bit of pressure, she found herself floating in darkness a faint light flickered in the vast expanse. Clea found herself floating through the inky darkness towards the light knowing that this was here the girl was trapped, in her dreams. Beside the light stood a frame housing a cherry door with musical instruments and notes carved into it. She circled around the door a few times before attempting to open it, locked. It only took a few moments to force the lock but she wondered who locked Alison's mind away. The darkness that filled this area was also a hint she was sure of it. The entire area should be well light even if the individual was asleep but to find darkness was disturbing. It was almost as if I a film covered Alison's mind and it was then she remembered the man at the concert.

The door finally opened and Clea could see into Alison's dreams. She really wished now she had said something to Stephen before she did this but it was too late now. With a deep breath, she stepped through the door frame.

Clea found herself standing in the back of a candlelit room with a large stage taking up the bulk of the room. A red almost transparent cloth covered the back of the stage and she could faintly see figures sitting behind it shuffling every now and then. It seemed so very familiar to her. She looked down to see she was no longer wearing her favorite dress but instead a dark blue suit with a dark blue and light blue tie.

She found hear a faint noise of talking around the room and became aware of people sitting at the tables around her, but with no detail. They looked like three-dimensional shadows moving as if they were part of a shadow theater show. The various horses around the stage and room finally triggered the memory in Clea, White Christmas. Four shadow figures walked onto stage taking up positions and the music began to play. Part of the red curtains began to lift to reveal Alison wearing an all-black dress and white sparkling cloves that almost came up to her elbow.

"Love…You didn't do right by me. You planned a romance that just hadn't a chance and I'm through…" the music was mesmerizing as Alison put her full heart into the song. She could see the pain in the singer's eyes and knew that she did have a crush on Stephen. As Alison continued the song Clea could hear that pain deepening and wished something could be done to ease that pain. She knew that in the story of White Christmas that this song had come about from a miscommunication, maybe she could alter things.

Clea stood up and walked towards the stage and could feel the shadow people looking at her as their hushed whispering ceased. She reached the stage just as Alison sang the last part of the song, "Yes Mr. Love, You Done Me Wrong." The world faded into darkness again.

When her vision returned Clea found herself standing in a park at night time. She could feel the humidity in the air and the clouds above seemed to threaten a rainstorm in the near future. She could see Alison sitting on a bench wearing a light pink dress across from a shadow person wearing a grey uniform that seemed once more very familiar.

The shadow opened with a clear voice, "You wait, little girl on an empty stage for fate to turn the light on. Your life little girl, is an empty page that men will want to write on…"

"To Write on…" Alison echoed and then Clea knew again where they were. Last year the Sound of Music appeared on that mortal device they called the movie theater. This would be the song, 'Sixteen going on Seventeen.'

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Nightmare, the shadow that sang with Alison was seeking control over her and this had turned into the perfect opportunity to establish his control. She had to admit that Nightmare did have a pretty voice as he sang the part of Rolf from the musical. It was probably a good idea, to try to woo her through music given how important it was to Alison.

"You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do. I am seventeen going on Eighteen, I'll take care of you." The shadow creature Nightmare held Alison close to him and it was then that Clea felt the first raindrop fall.

The two retreated to a gazebo as the rain began to intensify. And with Alison picking up with Liesl's part, "I am Sixteen going on seventeen. I know that I'm naive…"

Clea could see several shadow people watching from behind the nearby trees each of them wearing grey uniforms, glowing red eyes standing out in the rainy night. She moved among the shadow people removing them from the dreamscape one at a time. Each shadow person was so focused on the two dancing in the gazebo they didn't see Clea until it was too late and one by one they vanished. As Clea removed the last shadow person she looked up to see Nightmare kissing Alison and then running out of the Gazebo towards her. She managed to block an attack by the creature even as the scene once more faded into darkness.

Clea opened her eyes to see a bustling port but everything looked so different. She could see a lot of uniformed shadow people in sailor uniforms off to the side. She couldn't see the specific one named Nightmare but she knew he was around somewhere. He was making another attempt and the longer Alison remained asleep the more chances he would have to dominate her. Clea knew she had to act soon if she was going to wake up Alison and keep her from Nightmare's influence. She looked down to see that she too was wearing a uniform, that of a Naval Officer.

Alison was standing just on the edge of a park looking towards the port wearing a baby blue Rachel swing dress as she looked nervously towards where the sailors were standing. The breeze off the bay swirled around her skirts as Alison began to look even more uncharacteristically nervous. Clea could hear the sound of four famine voices filling the late July air pleading for Mr. Standman to bring them a dream.

Clea was certain that Alison was seeing something very different than what she was, or rather she hoped so. Still, she couldn't delay any longer. It wasn't something she wanted to do but if she didn't act then Nightmare would and he certainly wouldn't give Alison any options. Clea remembered some of the movies she could see from the mortal world and did her best to match the swagger that the characters in those romances would display. In all honesty, she felt silly doing it but she could tell that she had Alison's attention.

She could feel the hate-filled eyes of nightmare bore into her but she kept moving convinced that Alison wasn't seeing her but actually Stephen. As she reached Alison she could see a little more of the girl's confidence returning although she remained very different than how she saw Alison acting earlier. It had occurred to her that this was the real Alison, past what she showed her audience, she was still deep down a shy romantic girl. Clea held Alison close as the world faded to darkness and this time she held on.

When Clea opened her eyes again she was in the south somewhere in the Carolinas. She could see an older antebellum styled house overlooking a peaceful waterway, the breeze dancing around them flowers swaying in the moonlight.

"Stars Shining bright above you. Night breezes seem to whisper I love you. Birds singing in the sycamore tree. Dream a little dream of me."

All the shyness from before was gone as Alison sang to only one person. Clea was absolutely stunned by the energy the other woman placed in each word that seemed to cover her in warm intoxicating summer magic.

"Say Nightie night and kiss me. Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me. While I'm alone and blue as can be. Dream a little dream of me."

Alison's rose red dress seemed to brighten as she sang her emotions flooding over Clea and she began to wonder just what Alison really was seeing. Clea felt completely lightheaded and she struggled to think. All she knew was the two were alone with no hint of the shadows from before as if they had been completely banished from Alison's mind.

"Stars fading but I linger on, Dear, Still craving your kiss. I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear, just saying this. Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you. Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you, but in your dreams whatever they be. Dream a little dream of me"

Alison's singing became even more breathy as she drew closer still to Clea. Her dress began melting shifting and turning from rose red to a mixture of red and black lace slip. To Clea's surprise the tuxedo she had been wearing and only just noticed also changed turning into a very feminine powder blue and silver slip that seemed to match the pattern on Alison's. She was way too close, extremely too close for comfort but Clea found she could not look away from Alison's deep blue eyes.

Alison's song turned to whispers as she drew even closer still. "Stars fading but I linger on, Dear, Still craving your kiss." And Clea was powerless to stop the kiss as she felt Alison's lips press to hers. A Deep warmth flooded Clea as she stood there transfixed in the moonlight. No other thought filtered from her mind other than how very beautiful Alison was. And then suddenly the connection snapped closed.

Clea found herself falling backwards and landing heavily on the run covered floor of the room Alison had been revering in. Her mind riveted back into reality from the moonlight southern night that still echoed throughout her soul. Cobwebs filled her mind as she struggled for several seconds to regain her composure. She was breathing very heavy but she managed to calm down just in time to look up to see Alison sitting up in the bed, her face completely red in embarrassment.

"I'll go get Betsy and tell her you are awake." Clea could feel a deep heat from her cheeks and she was certain she was blushing just as heavy as Alison was. As she walked down the hallway it only then occurred to her that somehow Nightmare had tricked her. She hadn't considered it at the time. she was so transfixed with waking up Alison that she never even considered what type of trap Nightmare would place. It only occurred to her now that Alison wasn't seeing Stephen at all, she was seeing Clea. The magic flowing from Avalon was still creating problems for them and the sooner they dealt with it the better. Nightmare, Baron Blood, they were all becoming far too powerful and would continue to become even more powerful should the situation continue. The problem now was that Nightmare had his talons in her as well as Alison.

Alison felt like a complete wreck. That dream, she couldn't stop unseeing her dream. Her best friend would be there soon and she didn't want Betsy to see her like this. Somehow she managed on still wobbly knees to make it to the bathroom and she managed somehow to make it to the shower. She wasn't sure why she felt so weak but she knew even the coldest setting was doing absolutely nothing to cool down the heat she was feeling. A portion of the heat she was feeling was from magic and that shadow creature she had seen in the mirror. The problem was that wasn't where all of the heat was coming from.

The cobwebs in her mind made it very hard to think and she without thinking began turning on the hot water looking for any type of relief she could find. As the steam began to see symbols written in the shower glass and on the mirror each faintly glowing until finally, they flashed with a strange pinkish light. If she hadn't had her powers Alison was certain she would have been blinded, but she did notice that a bulk of the heat that threatened to burn her skin was now gone. The water felt so relaxing now but her mind still felt like it was covered in cobwebs and thinking was so difficult.

She found her mind drifting as she stood under the shower. A peaceful daydream flittered through her mind and she imagined arms reaching from behind her to hold her. She used to dream of Stephen Strange doing this after a long concert. But this time it felt different. The arms were smaller, more feminine. In her daydream, she turned around to see the young white-haired girl from the show and Alison was too shocked for words. Unable to move as the woman kissed her and with that kiss the dreams she had recently flooded back. Alison's knees went weak and she found herself falling. She sat in the corner of the shower the water showering over her as she sat there completely stunned at where her mind was going.

Her imagination tried several times to replace Clea with Stephen Strange but nothing worked and in her daydream she found herself looking up at a kneeling Clea who smiled at her so very sweetly. The Daydream faded and she found herself standing again under the shower spray but completely out of breath. "Girl you are losing your mind."

In the mirror, a shadow watched Alison as she still attempted to gain control over her emotions. The woman from that other dimension had made things difficult for the entity known as a nightmare, but it was not an insurmountable problem. The shadow in the mirror began morphing and changing until it matched Clea's height and shape. He would one way or another possess Alison's light.

Music from the chapter

1 Love, You didn't do right by me – White Christmas

2 Sixteen going on Seventeen – Sound of Music

3 Mr. Sandman

4 Dream a little Dream of Me


End file.
